Israel is set to ban the production, marketing and sale of non-tobacco flavoured vapes.
The legislation passed its first legal hurdle at a preliminary hearing in the Israeli Knesset (a unicameral parliament, where there is just one chamber).
The proposed private members’ bill will now progress to Committee stage where it will be studied in detail and prepared for its first reading.
Eli Dellal, of the ruling coalition’s Likud party, told the Knesset (translated from Hebrew): “It is proposed to establish a ban on the production and marketing of flavoured or scented electronic cigarette liquid, with the aim of helping to reduce the phenomenon of smoking and its harms in Israel.
“It should be mentioned: as soon as there are flavours, then it seems to bring it to something better, tastier, more fragrant – but the harms are the same, if not worse.”
Gateway theory claim
Dellal went on to wrongly claim that studies prove flavoured vapes lead people on to far more harmful smoking – which he said killed 8,000 Israelis in 2019 (including 800 passive smokers).
He said: “According to studies from around the world, flavoured electronic cigarettes contribute to the development of smoking addiction.”
In fact, a major evidence review, published in the Harm Reduction Journal last June, concluded that vape use does not act as a gateway to teens taking up smoking.
“Now, it’s not just for smoking – what kind of smoking?” Dellal added. “It’s actually a platform for smoking drugs and dangerous drugs later on – and attracts many smokers to use them, especially teenagers and young adults.
“According to a study published by the National Institutes of Health of the United States in 2018, over 80 per cent of teenagers and young adults who smoke reported that they use flavoured smoking products.”
Dellal went on to say that at the 2010 Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, attended by Israel, the parties agreed to ban the use of flavours in smoking products.
He said: “The use of flavours was defined as a method of masking the vulgarity of smoking, the smoke produced by these products, and as a way to open up and attract new users. As I said, it is in the guise of flavours, that everything is fine, there is no harm – on the contrary, it is very harmful.”
However, while smoking kills eight million people globally per year (up to half of all regular smokers), vaping is not fatal and does not cause any tobacco-related disease.
Request to raise taxes
As well as a flavours ban, Dellal said he had requested that taxes be raised on all vapes.
He said: “And now, following my request in the Finance Committee, the Tax Authority is preparing a plan to enforce and impose higher taxes on electronic cigarettes.”
Minister of Labour Yoav Ben-Tsur said the new Bill is designed to deter young people from taking up vaping, which he also wrongly claimed is a proven gateway to smoking.
He said: “Mr. Chairman, my fellow MPs, the purpose of the Bill is to help reduce the phenomenon of smoking and its harms in Israel by prohibiting the production, marketing and storage for the purpose of marketing of electronic cigarette liquid with a distinctive flavour or odour.
“The flavours of electronic cigarettes have proven to be a significant attraction factor, and their prohibition is essential for protecting public health. Surveys and studies in Israel and around the world show that flavoured smoking products contribute to the development of smoking addiction, and constitute a gateway to the smoking cycle.”
Flavours ‘distort risk perception’
Ben-Tsur went on to claim that vape flavours make vapes ‘more dangerous.’
He said: “As of today, in Israel, a very wide variety of flavours and odors are added to smoking products – not only electronic cigarettes, but also, for example, tobacco for hookahs and rolling tobacco – among other things.
“Fruit flavours, sweets, vanilla, chocolate and mint. This variety, aimed at a particularly young population, increases the absorption of smoke particles, distorts the risk perception of young users, and reduces the desire to quit.
“The flavours and smells mask the harsh taste of tobacco and soften the unpleasant stimulation of nicotine. This turns a smoking product, which is a product harmful to health, into an attractive product that children and teenagers crave and normalise its use in society.
“One of the proven ways to deal with the smoking phenomenon, especially among young people, is to ban the production and marketing of flavoured or scented smoking products. A comprehensive study by the American FDA from 2023 among teenagers and young adults showed that about 70 per cent of participants stated that they would stop using an electronic cigarette if its flavour were limited to tobacco flavor only.”
He added: “In light of the importance of protecting public health from the harms of smoking, which claim thousands of victims each year, and in order to deal with the problem of smoking addiction and especially to prevent the entry of new young users, I will ask the Knesset members to support the Bill in preliminary reading.”
The Bill will now be discussed in the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs before its first reading.
