Belgium has become the EU first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to stop young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and to protect the environment.
The sale of disposable electronic cigarettes is banned in Belgium on health and environmental grounds from 1 January. A ban on outdoor smoking in Milan came into force on the same day, as EU countries discuss tighter controls on tobacco.
Announcing the ban last year, Belgium’s health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, described electronic cigarettes as an “extremely harmful” product that damages society and the environment.
“Disposable e-cigarettes is a new product simply designed to attract new consumers,” he told the Associated Press. “E-cigarettes often contain nicotine. Nicotine makes you addicted to nicotine. Nicotine is bad for your health.”
The minister also cited the “hazardous waste chemicals” present in the cheap and widely available disposable vapes.
Australia restricted the sale of all vapes to pharmacies last year as part of a series of anti-smoking measures described as world-leading. In England it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes from June 2025 in a move designed to combat their widespread use by children and prevent environmental damage.
Vandenbroucke said Belgium was “playing a pioneering role in Europe to weaken the tobacco lobby” and called for an update of EU law.
The country is seeking to reduce the number of new smokers to zero or near zero by 2040 and is taking other steps to “discourage and denormalise” smoking.
Smoking is already banned in playgrounds, sports fields, zoos and theme parks, and tobacco products will not be able to be sold in supermarkets larger than 400 square metres or displayed at points of sale from 1 April.
An official Belgian Health Interview survey in 2018 found that 15.3% of the population aged 15 and over smoked every day, down from 25.5% in 1997. The 2023 survey, due to be released in September, is expected to show a further decline in smoking, but the government said further action was needed to meet its tobacco-reduction targets.
A ban on outdoor smoking in Milan, the northern Italian business and fashion hub long known for its smog, came into force on Wednesday.
Smokers who light up on the city’s streets and in crowded public spaces will face fines of between €40 (£33) and €240. The ban is an extension of a measure imposed in 2021 which prohibited smoking in parks and playgrounds, and at bus stops and sports facilities.
The city’s officials said the ban was intended to improve air quality and protect people’s health, especially against the effects of passive smoking. The ban does not, however, apply to e-cigarettes.
Milan is located in the Po Valley, a huge geographical area straddling the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. A Guardian investigation in 2023 found more than a third of the people living in the valley and surrounding areas breathed air four times above the World Health Organization’s guideline limit for the most dangerous airborne particulates.
Although the number of smokers in Italy has gradually fallen over the past 15 years, 24% of the population still smokes, according to data last year from the Higher Health Institute.
An estimated 93,000 deaths each year in Italy are attributed to smoking, according to the health ministry. Italy’s first national anti-smoking measure was introduced in 1975, when smoking was banned on public transport and in classrooms. The ban was extended in 1995 to include public administration areas, and in 2005 to all enclosed public areas.
