The Liberals and the Christian Democrats are waiting to comment on the government's proposed flavour ban on e-cigarettes and e-liquid. At the same time, the parties call for better knowledge about e-cigarettes and their risks.
The Liberals do not mention the flavour ban in their response to the government's bill "Tougher rules for new nicotine products". However, the party believes that the issue of e-cigarettes should be better investigated.
"With regard to the risks of e-cigarettes and the liquids used, we see a need for more research on the risk factors of these products," the Liberal Party writes in its report. subsequent motion.
No own motion from KD
The Christian Democrats are also waiting to comment on the government's proposal to ban flavours in e-liquid and e-cigarettes.
"We knew that there would be various motions from other parties that we could take a position on during the upcoming preparation in the committee. That is why we did not submit our own motion" says Pia Steensland, who represents KD in the Social Committee, to Vejpkollen.
Critical of (s) strategy for ANDTS
At the same time, Pia Steensland criticises the government for not developing a better strategy for alcohol, drugs, gambling and tobacco. Like the other opposition parties, Pia Steensland wants to see an ANDTS strategy that has proper support in parliament.
"Now we have an ANDTS strategy that only the government, i.e. in practice only the Social Democrats, support. The Parliament has very clearly rejected their previous proposal for a strategy and made concrete proposals on how to improve it. Unfortunately, they have not succeeded in improving it" says Pia Steensland.
Harm minimisation in tobacco policy
Just last year, the Parliament decided to vote down the the government's ANDTS strategy on the grounds that it was too unclear. The Parliament also wanted to introduce a harm minimisation perspective in the issue of tobacco and nicotine products. Despite this, the government has presented a new proposal for an ANDTS strategy that neither mentions harm minimisation nor distinguishes between different nicotine products in terms of risks. However, the government is commissioning an investigation into the harmfulness of different nicotine products in relation to each other. This investigation will be completed in spring 2023.
Awaiting discussion in the Social Affairs Committee
However, Pia Steensland does not want to go into more detail about how the Christian Democrats relate to either the flavour ban or the investigation. At least not yet.
"We will discuss the issue in the social committee in the coming month. That's all I can say now," she told Vejpkollen.
The Social Affairs Committee is preparing the proposal on Tougher rules for new nicotine products from 10 May to early June. The Parliament will vote on the proposal on 21 June. Moderates, Centre and the Sweden Democrats to reject the part of the government's proposal to ban flavours in e-cigarettes.
