21.06.2022, Stockholm, Sweden – Today, the Swedish Parliament voted against the ban on vape flavours. If adopted, the legislation would have banned the sale of all non-tobacco flavoured e-liquids.
Michael Landl, director of the vaping advocacy group World Vapers Alliance, celebrated the victory to save flavours:
“Today, we celebrate a huge victory in our fight against smoking. Flavours are a determining factor in helping smokers quit. If this ban had been adopted, 150,000 people in Sweden – almost the population of Upsala – could have been pushed back to smoking. Vapers, local activists and the WVA team have done tremendous work to make their voices heard. We made politicians finally listen!”
The World Vapers Alliance has been actively opposing the flavour ban in Sweden. In March, the group hosted an art installation in front of the Parliament to make the voices of Swedish vapers heard. In May, the group also delivered an open letter to the Swedish parliamentarians to draw attention to the science-backed facts.
“Yet, our fight to save flavours and help people live better lives is far from over. Flavour bans are in place in seven European countries, more have flavour bans on the legislative agenda, and politicians are discussing bans at the EU level. We need to make sure that politicians listen to consumers and make decisions based on scientific evidence, which has proved that vaping is much safer than smoking and flavours are an important part of smoking cessation,” said Landl.
World Vapers Alliance is running a #FavoursMatter campaign to raise awareness about flavours’ role in helping smokers quit. Learn more about it here: https://worldvapersalliance.