Flavored e-cigarettes are, once again, under attack as the Netherlands and Montana became the latest country or state to ban them.
The Dutch government plans to ban flavored electronic cigarettes from next year to make vaping less attractive to young people. It also extends current legislation on smoking to cover electronic cigarettes from July 1. Smoking is banned in all school playgrounds from the start of the next academic year and from October 1, cigarettes and rolling tobacco may only be sold in neutral packaging.
The ban on flavored c-cigarette products is new legislation, with spring 2021 as a target date. IQOS devices are also subjected to the same rules as apply to other tobacco products, with an age limit and advertising ban.
E-cigarettes with tobacco flavor remains on sale in the Netherlands as a smoking cessation aid.
In the US, Montana governor, Steve Bullock, decided to make permanent a state rule restricting the sale of flavored e-cigarette products. Montana proposed a temporary ban on the sale of e-cigarettes last October. Vaping shops sued to block the temporary ban, but in December last year, a judge upheld the 120-day ban, which was in place through mid-April.
In Massachusetts, a ban on retail sales of menthol-flavored tobacco products, not limited to just e-cigarettes, came into effect on June 1, 2020. Massachusetts is now the first state to restrict the retail sale of not only menthol but also all flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, and chew. Smokers of all flavored products, including menthol, are now only able to smoke them in smoking bars for onsite consumption.