The Danish Health Authority covered up information so that the government would ban flavors in e-juice. This is according to the Danish e-cigarette industry association, which is now going to the European Commission to lift the upcoming Danish ban on flavors in e-liquid.
"They delayed their own report, which showed that both smoking and e-cigarette use have fallen drastically in recent years" writes BECIG
On April 1, 2022, the sale of non-tobacco flavored e-liquids and menthol will be banned in Denmark. The reason: concerns that e-cigarettes lure non-smoking young people into nicotine addiction. The law was passed in 2019, but was finalized at the end of 2020. The European Commission has criticized the law, saying it violates the EU's Single Market Treaty. Danish companies would be severely disadvantaged if only imports of flavored e-juice were allowed, according to the European Commission.
"The upcoming ban will have a major impact on e-cigarette retailers in Denmark", writes the Danish trade association for e-cigarettes, BECIG in a press release ". Flavored liquids for e-cigarettes, with the exception of tobacco and menthol, will be banned, while tobacco industry products such as chewing tobacco, nicotine pouches, water pipe tobacco with different flavors can continue to be sold. Many retailers will close when this comes into force."
Smoking and vejping decrease
Now it turns out that it upcoming ban will on shaky ground. Smoking in Denmark has fallen sharply in recent years. The same applies to vejping. And the biggest drop is among young people, according to the Danish Health Authority's latest report on smoking habits in Denmark. This has prompted the Danish E-Cigarette Industry Association to go on the warpath.
"The report was supposed to be published before the decision on the new law was taken. But it was delayed. At the same time, the Public Health Agency knew what the report would say. Smoking is declining. Despite the fact that flavored e-cigarettes are on the market. It's like they wanted to push this law through, whether it was unnecessarily harsh or not."
Misleading about e-cigarettes
Neither the Danish National Board of Health nor the Danish government has responded to the allegations. But criticism is growing among the political opposition. The Danish People's Party and Nye Borgerlige have called Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke for a special consultation. The question is whether the government knew what was in the report, and whether the agency deliberately misled decision-makers.
"We were worried that smoking was increasing in Denmark. But we were not told that the figures now showed something completely different than what we had negotiated before the new law," says Liselott Blixt, Danish People's Party, to Danish TV 2.
E-cigarette companies can sue the state
As the debate rages on and BECIG appeals to the European Commission, at least one Danish e-cigarette company is preparing legal action against the state.
"We are looking at the possibility and our lawyer will assess whether there are grounds to proceed," writes Jeanett Andersen, communications consultant at the company SMOKE-IT, which has shops in several locations in Denmark.
I think I read somewhere that flavored nicotine pills, like ZYN and Lyft, would also be banned from sale in Denmark? But maybe I'm wrong. If you know what you are doing, it is quite easy to flavor your own e-juice. But of course it is idiotic and counterproductive to ban flavorings. It is extremely strange and frustrating that the solution to the smoking problem, vejpning, snus, nicotine pills, hnb and the like are so much opposed by various politicians and organizations. We know that it is not nicotine that causes the serious diseases, lung cancer, COPD and heart attacks, but the combustion products, tar, carbon monoxide, etc. from cigarettes. There are also many indications that nicotine in its pure form, from e-cigs and snus, is no more harmful and addictive than the caffeine in coffee.
However, I did not find anything about a vejp ban in bars and cafes and the like. That is at least a plus. I know that you can still smoke cigarettes indoors in bars that are 40 square meters or less in Denmark.