Urged by anti-smoking activists, Dutch Parliament considers ‘generational’ cigarette and vaping ban to protect health of future generations

More than 57,000 Dutch people support anti-tobacco and anti-vaping initiative

Amsterdam, 4 December 2024 – Urged by public health activists, Dutch parliament this month will debate a national ban on selling tobacco and vaping products to residents born after 1 January 2012. The ‘generational ban’ would gradually erase smoking and vaping among future Dutch generations while leaving current nicotine-users untouched.

The debate follows a citizens’ initiative, called ‘Nicotinee’ (‘No to nicotine’), which collected more than 40,000 signatures in favour of a parliamentary debate on a ban, making it mandatory under Dutch law for parliament to put the topic on its agenda. The debate is scheduled for Thu 12 December, with a vote expected on 17 December.

“Every year 20.000 people die in the Netherlands as a consequence of smoking”, says Wanda de Kanter, lung physician and chair of the Youth Smoking Prevention Foundation, one of the initiators of the citizens’ initiative. “Today, 670.000 people suffer from chronic diseases caused by smoking. And now we see that children and young people are taking up smoking again, after being seduced to start vaping first. This must be stopped and that is why we plea for a law that sets a clear norm and prohibits the sale of any nicotine containing product to anyone born from 1 January 2012 onwards.”

The proposal foresees in an annual raise of the legal age to buy tobacco with one year from 2030 onwards, when children born in 2012 turn 18. The proposal leaves current smokers unaffected; they will be allowed to continue to buy tobacco and non-flavoured e-cigarettes. Retailers who still sell nicotine products to underaged buyers will be fined.

The citizens’ initiative Nicotinee was launched in late 2022 by health advocates, medical and consumer organisations and supported by a wide range of other organisations, as well as more than 57.000 individuals. The initiators and supporters are alarmed about the vape epidemic among children and youngsters in the Netherlands. Recent figures show that 1 in 10 children in the age between 12 and 14 had used an e-cigarette or vape in the last year, and 22 percent in the 12-25 age group. Even more concerning: 70 percent of the young people that vape monthly, also smoke cigarettes.

“There is clearly a trend in the uptake of smoking since the introduction of the vape. The continuous downward trend in smoking prevalence among youngsters since 2003 has stagnated since 2017,” says De Kanter.

In January 2024 a flavour ban for e-cigarettes came into force in the Netherlands, to counter the vape hype. However, flavoured vapes are still being sold, both under the counter by tobacco and vape shops and by dealers in schools and on the streets.

In reaction to arguments that a generational ban is not possible under EU-law, the initiators state that health policy is reserved for individual Member States and that EU-law allows for exemptions on the EU tobacco regulations when urgent health issues are at stake. “There is no doubt that the current nicotine epidemic in our country is such an urgent issue,” says De Kanter. “If we don’t act now, we will have to deal with many thousands of ill people in the decennia to come. This is a health issue of the first degree. It will cost our society billions if we don’t intervene now to stop this merciless industry and start protecting our children.”

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For more information, contact Wanda de Kanter at wandadekanter@me.com or +31 6 54725510.