France has banned the sale of disposable vapes, becoming the second country in Europe to do so. The law took effect on February 25. Just the day before, France notified the European Commission that it would also ban nicotine pouches. The moves anger French tobacco harm reduction (THR) activists who have fought to protect access to safer alternatives to cigarettes.
France’s disposables ban follows that of Belgium, which enacted its own in January, based on familiar arguments concerning youth vaping and the environment.
“It is a great victory that we were fighting,” said French National Assembly member Francesca Pasquini; “an environmental matter against the polluting lithium batteries in these ‘puffs,’ and a health battle for our schoolchildren.”
Proponents of disposables point out that their cheap start-up costs and ease of use make them a low-barrier alternative to smoking, particularly for members of marginalized populations. The new ban, they say, applies only to adults, as the products are already prohibited for minors.
“It’s a perversion of the democratic system. No scientific studies or impact assessments were carried out before this decision.”
The legislation has been part of a long process: In December 2023, the French National Assembly voted unanimously to ban disposables, known there as “puffs.”
The bill was finally approved by French lawmakers on February 13, with its wording taking into account recommendations from the European Commission. French vape advocates had made extensive efforts to fight the misinformation behind this prohibition and other threats. In 2024 they issued a white paper intended to inform decision-makers, titled “Merci la vape.”
“The process that led to the ban on puffs is an exemplary case of the perversion of the democratic system,” Philippe Poirson, former vice president of Sovape, an independent association promoting THR in France, told Filter. “No scientific studies or impact assessments were carried out before this decision.”
Noting France’s high and rising smoking rates, Poirson said the “victims” of the ban will be adults—often those experiencing mental health conditions and financial hardship—who will now be deprived of legal access to products that have helped many quit smoking.
“The narrative of banning puffs to ‘protect’ adolescents is bogus, if not consciously deceitful,” he said. Meanwhile, adults who smoke “are abandoned to tobacco by the French state.”
Poirson added that the ban has been implemented with no “compensatory or accompanying measures” to help those people who will return to smoking as a result.
Claude Bamberger echoes these concerns. A volunteer for AIDUCE (Association Indépendante des Utilisateurs de Cigarette Electronique), an independent association of people who vape, he himself quit cigarettes by switching to disposable vapes.
“No change path has been set up,” Bamberger told Filter. “The ban pretends to protect health, but it’s shown [that] at its best, it does nothing about health and will provoke more illicit sales of unregulated products and more tobacco smoking.”
It’s all part of a wave of anti-THR measures sweeping Europe.
Not content with closing off one avenue for tobacco harm reduction, the French government is banning nicotine pouches too, joining Austria, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg in doing so. It’s all part of a wave of anti-THR measures sweeping Europe.
EU bodies have recently called for vaping in public spaces to be banned, and discussed a potential bloc-wide ban on flavors in safer nicotine products.
Ireland is seeking to ban disposables, and is among at least 12 nations calling for more vape restrictions. The United Kingdom will ban disposables in June.
The moves fly in the face of many countries’ documented experiences. Sweden’s achievement of virtual “smoke free” status is attributable to mass switching to snus, and the modern nicotine pouches which closely resemble it. Snus itself is already banned throughout the rest of the EU.
Vapes, meanwhile, are linked with mass smoking cessation in the United States (particularly disposables), the UK and New Zealand.
Advocates see France’s decision to remove two leading smoking cessation products as a willful dismantling of THR.
“It’s hard to be optimistic about the future of harm reduction in France, given the government’s clear desire to protect smoking and its tax benefits,” Poirson said.
“These measures contribute to the loss of credibility of the authorities, particularly the health authorities … This is very worrying for social cohesion in France.”
Photograph by Vaping360 via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
Show Comments