Sofia, 18.02.2025 – The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) strongly criticizes the Bulgarian Parliament’s recent unanimous vote to implement a blanket ban on vaping products. This ill-conceived decision threatens public health and ignores scientific evidence supporting vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking.

Bulgaria has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, and it has not gone down since the first Eurobarometer survey in 2007. Despite this alarming statistic, the government has chosen to ban all vaping products, including nicotine-free options, both in retail outlets and online. This decision was made without proper consultation and is likely to fuel the black market for unsafe products.

Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, states: “The Bulgarian government’s decision to ban vaping is a massive step backwards in the fight against smoking-related deaths. With one of the highest smoking rates in the EU, Bulgaria should be embracing harm reduction tools, not banning them.”

The WVA emphasizes that vaping has been proven to be an effective smoking cessation aid. This ban will push adult vapers back to smoking or the black market, ignoring the potential of vaping to significantly reduce Bulgaria’s alarmingly high smoking rates.

“This ban will have devastating consequences for public health in Bulgaria. It’s simply crazy that in a country where smoking kills thousands annually, the government would eliminate a proven harm reduction tool,” Landl adds.

The WVA calls on the Bulgarian government to vote against this bill in the subsequent stages of the parliamentary process and instead implement evidence-based policies that support smokers in quitting, rather than removing their access to less harmful alternatives.