Generational smoking ban won't work in Netherlands, Health Min. says

Minister of Public Health, Welfare, and Sport Sophie Hermans has said that a generational smoking ban starting from a specific year would not be effective in the Netherlands. She argues that smoking rates among young people remain too high, with many of them using illegal vaping products.

Earlier this year, the United Kingdom became the first European country to propose a generational smoking ban for anyone born after 2008. The VVD minister said such a policy works there because smoking rates among young people are lower than in the Netherlands.

Hermans has stressed in a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, that EU-wide rules on nicotine use should be more closely aligned. She warns that without greater harmonisation, a generational smoking ban in the Netherlands could lead to increased cross-border purchases of nicotine products in Germany and Belgium.

Citing research, Hermans says that 87 percent of vapers are using illegal products. She argues that this high share of illicit vaping makes it more difficult to effectively enforce a generational smoking ban.

Hermans says that since nearly all vapes are bought through illegal channels, banning disposable vapes would not be an effective way to reduce smoking rates.