Danish vejpare demonstrates today against a new law that could make all non-tobacco flavored e-juices illegal in Denmark.
"Politicians don't know what they are doing. In the worst case, even the nicotine hitters have to taste tobacco to be sold," says Mikkel Schmidt, one of the organizers of the event.
"All flavors except for tobacco flavors should be banned in e-cigarettes"
So says the Danish Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke (s), to Danish newspaper Politikken. He is now proposing new tobacco legislation that includes e-cigarettes and has the support of almost all parties in the Danish Parliament. The health minister says e-cigarettes are "a pathway to smoking" for young people and that the flavors are "the main reason why young people try e-cigarettes."
Mikkel Schmidt from consumer-driven Danish Steamer Association, DADAFO, notes that nearly 40,000 Danish vejpers are losing access to varied flavors. They now risk returning to smoking.
"Ordinary 1TP8 users, who don't engage much with this issue, those who are just trying to quit smoking, they are the hardest hit by this. They also happen to be the majority of all 1TP8 smokers and the group that we, as a consumer organization, have difficulty reaching," says Mikkel Schmidt to Vejpkollen.
Also in the firing line are 35 vejpshoppers, many of which operate one or more physical stores across Denmark.
90 percent of their sales are non-tobacco flavors, according to Mikkel Schmidt.
"If this goes through, things look bleak. With taxation and bans on popular flavors, it will be almost more expensive to vejpa than to smoke. In addition, vejpen will taste like ashtray. At the same time, it will be hard to find anything better than simple starter kits, because there won't be many shops left that can sell anything else," says Mikkel Schmidt.
The bill is very vague, according to Mikkel Schmidt. In short, all flavors in e-juices, except tobacco flavors, are banned in stores. Not even neutral nicotine hats seem to be exempt.
"It's a sweeping ban, at least as I understand it. The politicians don't seem to know what they're doing. They've just listened to radical health scientists and not thought this through at all. In the worst case scenario, nicotine hitters will have to taste tobacco to be sold" says Mikkel Schmidt.
According to the Danish newspaper Politikken, there is broad political agreement on the proposal. Nevertheless, there are opposition parties that want to see a less drastic regulation
"We didn't want the flavors in e-cigarettes to be included in the new tobacco law at all. We will be disappointed if it goes through anyway" says Liselott Blixt, health policy spokesperson for the Danish People's Party, which negotiated with the government on the issue, to the magazine Politikken.
The Danish People's Party shares the position of two other liberal parties that form the opposition in Denmark to the Social Democrats and their supporters.
"Three out of five Liberal parties support us, mostly for libertarian reasons. But they only have 24 out of 174 votes in parliament so unfortunately it doesn't mean much" says Mikkel Schmidt.
He believes that many politicians do not act and take positions on a truthful basis. For example, the Danish Health Authority has not provided correct information about the lung injuries suffered by vejpare in the US during the summer and fall.
"Many politicians still believe that regular nicotine e-cigarettes are behind the deaths in the US. The Health Department has not clearly stated that the illnesses were caused by illegally sold THC juices with e-acetate. To be honest, I think many politicians do not know what they are doing.
The bill will now be debated in Parliament. If it passes, it will start a longer process where the law will be rewritten and voted on at least three more times before it is finally passed.
"We will not give up. But the only thing we can do is to be more vocal" says Mikkel Schmidt."We will continue to send emails and messages to politicians and actively confront the misinformation spread about vejpning in the media. We hope the government will provide research money to study what happens if the flavors are banned.How will this affect smoking in the country? It should at least show that we were right." says Mikkel Schmidt to Vejpkollen
The demonstration is taking place today, Tuesday in Copenhagen. Follow it via Facebook:
Read more at Vejpkollen:
Norway drops ban on e-juice with nicotine
Concerns about a black market made Trump change his mind on e-cigs
Vejpning lures young people away from cigarettes
