Tag: Spain

  • Cigarette Smoking Drops to Record Low in Spain

    Cigarette Smoking Drops to Record Low in Spain

    Smoking rates in Spain have dropped to a record low, reports Euro Weekly News.

    In 2024, 25.84 percent of the population smoked, down from 33.1 percent in 2022. Health advocates credit successful government initiatives, including higher taxes on tobacco products, stronger restrictions on tobacco advertising, the expansion of smoke-free zones to include public outdoor areas, and increased funding for smoking cessation services.

    Despite these recent declines, tobacco remains a major public health issue in Spain. The Spanish Ministry of Health attributes nearly 50,000 deaths annually to smoking-related illnesses, accounting for nearly 15 percent of all deaths in the country.

    Meanwhile, the decline in cigarette smoking has been accompanied by a surge vaping. The number of e-cigarette users has doubled in the past four years, with 19 percent of Spaniards having tried them. Over half of e-cigarette users are opting for nicotine-free versions.

    In response to this shift, the Spanish government is introducing new regulations to curb e-cigarette usage, including banning e-cigarettes in indoor public spaces, restricting flavored e-liquids, and limiting them to tobacco flavors. It is also considering plain packaging for e-cigarette products, and discussing the introduction of taxes on e-liquids to mirror tobacco taxes.

  • Spain Begins Consultation on Vape Flavor Ban

    Spain Begins Consultation on Vape Flavor Ban

    Credit: Oleksii

    Spain has started a public consultation on new rules for vaping devices, reports Sur.

    The proposed legislation would ban the ban on the use of non-tobacco flavorings in e-cigarettes with the goal of making these products less attractive to young people.

    The decree also aims to regulate the labeling of electronic cigarettes without nicotine. As with traditional tobacco, they will have to have a list of ingredients and health warnings indicating that their consumption is harmful to health.

    They will also have to include a leaflet with information on contraindications and possible adverse effects.

  • Spain Urged to Keep Vape Flavors Legal

    Spain Urged to Keep Vape Flavors Legal

    Photo: nyker

    The Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) has asked Spain to refrain from banning flavored vapes.

    According to the group, the proposed measure presents several risks.

    “The effective ban of e-liquids in the Spanish market will lead to a boom in black market activities with dangerous, non–compliant products,” the IEVA wrote in a statement.

    In addition, the group warned, it will cause a rise in smoking rates and put at risk more than 3,000 jobs in the Spanish vaping industry, leading to a reduction in government revenues by reducing tax collection.

    The IEVA shared its concerns in a contribution to the public consultation that is currently underway.

  • Spain Bans Flavors for Heated Tobacco Products

    Spain Bans Flavors for Heated Tobacco Products

    Credit: Weyo

    The government in Spain has approved a decree that equates the regulation of heated tobacco products with that of traditional cigarettes, prohibiting products with flavorings. The rules do not apply to all vaping products, such as e-cigarettes.

    In addition, it will now be mandatory for labels to contain warnings for heated tobacco products that they products are harmful to health, according to Catalan News.

    The Ministry of Health is considering further regulations.

    “The ban will cover tobacco products with an aroma or flavor in their components (such as filters, papers, packaging, or capsules) or any other technique that allows modifying the smell or taste of the products or intensify the smoke. Filters, papers and capsules cannot contain tobacco or nicotine,” the report states.

    Heated tobacco products must include the following informative message on their outer packaging: “Tobacco smoke contains more than 70 carcinogenic substances,” with relevant accompanying photographs.

    This decree will enter into force three months after its publication in the official state gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado).

  • Spain Asked to Rethink Vape Shop Ban

    Spain Asked to Rethink Vape Shop Ban

    Photo: Nito

    The Independent European Vaping Association (IEVA) has called on the Spanish government to reconsider a proposal to ban vape shops. According to the IEVA, the legislation under consideration would hand the entire electronic cigarette business to big tobacco companies.

    “Against all principles of EU law (proportionality, good regulation, good administration, fair competition and harmonization), the Spanish government has proposed to ban and close all vape shops across Spain (transferring the sale of electronic cigarettes and e-liquids to the state monopoly of tobacco shops and to prohibit all online sales,” the IEVA wrote on its website.

    According to the IEVA, these measures not only contravene EU rules on free competition and free movement of goods, but will also generate unemployment at a time or economic crisis. What’s more, the proposal will deprive vaper from personalized access to vaping products, forcing them to buy them at tobacco shops, which could temp them back to more risky combustible products, the group said.

    As part of the legislative process, Spain submitted a so-called TRIS notification to the European Commission on June 21 The IEVA shared its views on the proposal and the full submission is available here.

  • Industry Group Sues Spain Over Anti-Vape Campaign

    Industry Group Sues Spain Over Anti-Vape Campaign

    A large vaping industry association in Spain has launched legal action against the country’s central government. The Union of Vaping Promoters and Entrepreneurs (UPEV) claims a long-running anti-vaping campaign is against the law for numerous reasons.

    Credit: daBoost

    The lawsuit claims that the Ministry of Health campaign “El tabaco ata y te mata” (“Tobacco ties and kills you”) violates several articles of the Spanish General Law of Advertising and the Law of Publicity and Institutional Communication, according to an article by ECigIntelligence.

    According to the UPEV, the campaign – launched in 2019 and still continuing – “identifies vaping and smoking tobacco in a manifestly misleading way, putting both activities on the same level and attributing the same harmful effects to them”.

    The association is demanding immediate cancellation of the campaign, which has been promoted in a variety of media including on websites, social media, television and radio. In its submission to the court, the UPEV has presented a technical and scientific report that shows the benefits of vaping as a smoking cessation tool.

    The union has blamed the government campaign to discourage vaping for the closure of about 40 shops in 2019, with the loss of 400 jobs, and last year took its complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman.

  • Nicotine Effective for Covid-19 at Most Virulent Stage

    Nicotine Effective for Covid-19 at Most Virulent Stage

    Nicotine can help battle Covid-19, according to new research. A Spanish study found that the drug that can be found in vapor products can be an effective tool in stopping coronavirus in its most virulent phase.

    Researchers at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, working with the public hospitals of Alcazar de San Juan, Avila and Salamanca, made the discovery. According to the study, while smokers are more vulnerable to catching Covid-19 due to damaged and weakened lungs, less of them end up in hospital or ICUs compared to non-smokers.

    Researchers say this is because the nicotine in their system can act as an inhibitor, stopping Covid’s cytokines from inflaming the lungs, which often proves fatal. The study analyzed patients across the three hospitals during the peak of the pandemic, according to a story on politicopathy.com.

    Investigators discovered that there were far fewer numbers of habitual smokers than expected. This, the study suggests, is because the chemical can prevent a so-called cytokine storm, which can lead to respiratory failure and the attack of healthy tissues, causing multi-organ failure.

    Several other studies, including in Israel, the U.S. and the U.K., have also suggested that nicotine could be beneficial in fighting the virus. “Nicotine has effects on the immune system that could be beneficial in reducing the intensity of the cytokine storm,” said Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, from the University of West Attica, Greece, writing in Internal and Emergency Medicine in June.

    “The potential benefits of nicotine…. could explain, at least in part, the increased severity or adverse outcome among smokers hospitalised for COVID-19 since these patients inevitably experience abrupt cessation of nicotine intake during hospitalization,” says Farsalinos. “This may be feasible through repurposing already approved pharmaceutical nicotine products such as nicotine patches.”

  • Juul Labs to Exit South Korea, 5 EU Markets

    Juul Labs to Exit South Korea, 5 EU Markets

    Juul Labs said today it would end operations in South Korea, a year after it entered the market. The company states the cause was its inability to gain market share amid government health warnings.

    In a statement, Juul Labs stated that since the beginning of the year it was working through a restructuring process aimed a re-establishing a viable business in South Korea by significantly reducing costs and making changes to its products.

    “However, these innovations will not be available as anticipated,” the statement said. “As a result, we intend to cease our operations in South Korea.”

    In October last year, South Korea’s health ministry advised people to stop vaping because of growing health concerns, especially after a case of pneumonia was reported in a 30-year-old e-cigarette user that month, according to Reuters news article.

    The announcement prompted convenience store chains and duty free shops to suspend the sale of flavored liquid e-cigarettes, including those made by Juul Labs.

    In December, South Korean health authorities said they had found vitamin E acetate, which may be linked to lung illnesses, in some liquid e-cigarette products made by Juul Labs, but the company denied using the material, according to Reuters.

    Juul Labs launched a product portfolio that was specifically developed for the Korean market in May 2019, but “our performance has not met expectations in terms of meeting the needs of our Korean adult smokers to successfully transition from combustible cigarettes,” according to the statement. “We have learned through this process and are focused on innovating our product portfolio.”

    Juul Labs is also reportedly ready to withdraw from a handful of EU markets as well, claiming the regulatory environment has become overly hostile to the device.

    According to BuzzFeed News, Juul will soon remove its products from shelves in Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Spain.

    The news outlet reports the European Union’s strict requirement that e-cigs contain no more than 20 milligrams of nicotine makes it difficult for Juul to do business there.

    Austria, Belgium, and Portugal are very small markets for Juul, but the leading e-cig manufacturer generates significant sales from France and Spain. It will exit France by the end of the year, but withdraw from the other countries in July, paring its presence in global markets to a narrow selection that includes Germany, Italy, Russia, and the U.K.