Belgium’s flavour ban risks pushing smokers back to cigarettes

Belgium’s decision to ban flavoured vapes has come under fire from international health experts, who warn the move will sabotage quit-smoking efforts and push former smokers back to deadly cigarettes.

The Belgian federal government has approved plans to prohibit flavoured vapes from September 2028, allowing only tobacco and neutral flavours to remain on the market. 

The decision ignores growing international evidence that flavours play a critical role in helping adult smokers switch away from combustible tobacco.

Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden, said: “Flavours matter because they help adult smokers move from cigarettes to far less harmful alternatives. When governments remove the products people actually use to quit smoking, they make that transition far more difficult.

“Countries should be looking carefully at what has worked in Sweden, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, where smoke-free alternatives have contributed to rapid declines in smoking rates. Policies that make safer alternatives such as vapes and nicotine pouches less appealing risk slowing that progress.”

International evidence is compelling:

• By making safer, smokeless nicotine products accessible, acceptable and affordable to adults, Sweden is now close to official ‘smoke-free’ status and records the lowest tobacco-related disease burden in Europe. It permits a wide variety of flavours in smokeless products, which are taxed at a lower rate than combustible cigarettes.
  
• Denmark banned most vape flavours in 2022. Since then, youth vaping has risen while adults source banned flavours from informal markets.
  
• A long-term Yale University study of more than 17,000 Americans found adults using flavoured vaping products were more than twice as likely to quit cigarettes completely compared with users of tobacco-flavoured products. 
• Research from Canada and the United States found that adult users of flavoured vaping products were more likely to use vaping as a quitting aid and found the products more satisfying than tobacco-flavoured alternatives. 

Dr Human said: “Evidence from multiple countries shows that flavour bans can have unintended consequences. Adults often seek banned products through informal markets, while some former smokers relapse to cigarettes.

“We fully support strong action to prevent youth access to nicotine products. But that requires strict enforcement against underage sales, meaningful penalties for retailers who break the law and responsible marketing standards.

“Public health policy should carefully weigh the consequences of restricting products that many adults rely on to avoid smoking. Cigarettes remain by far the most dangerous nicotine products on the market.”