Disposable e-cigarettes will disappear from stores? Government prepares regulations, politicians call for enforcement of already existing law

- We are determined and believe that among all tobacco products, these devices are the most harmful. The best example is that countries where they are produced, such as India and China, ban their use. We want to submit relevant solutions for public consultation in the coming weeks," the deputy health minister said.

According to the chairwoman of the Senate Health Committee, Senator Beata Małecka-Libera, legislation banning the sale of disposable e-cigarettes is needed and it is good that it is being created. A huge problem, however, according to her, are the products that are on the market, which are illegal and have containers larger than 2 ml, for example.

- I call very strongly for the State Trade Inspection to act and enter the stores to verify that the items sold there are legitimate. I expect nothing more than for such products to disappear from the market at this time. We dealt with the legal highs very quickly," said Senator Beata Małecka-Libera.

The chairwoman stressed that she expects the minister to appoint a team to look into taking all products that do not comply with statutory regulations off the market. It turns out that there are a lot of them on the market, and out of more than 40,000 notifications received by the Bureau of Chemical Substances, only a little more than 20 non-compliance decisions have been issued.

- We have prepared a database of ingredients of all applications. This is more than 3,000 substances that are found in liquids. We are at the stage of creating a full database of them, which will allow us to predict how such a substance, when heated, can break down," explained Agnieszka Dudra, president of the Bureau for Chemical Substances, during a combined meeting of the Senate Health and Environment Committees.

The problem is that the database is only just being created, and compliance checking was based on data declared by manufacturers. There was a lack of verification of goods on store shelves with this information. Inconsistencies can already be seen with the naked eye, looking, for example, at the volume of packaging. Many times they are much larger than the permitted 2 ml.

- A ban on the sale of disposable e-cigarettes is being worked on. The legislation is being processed. The crucial question is what we will attach to it. The simplest solution is precisely a ban. In addition to that, by the way, we can address other issues, such as devices that burn substances that do not contain tobacco. We can attach there solutions that have already been waiting for years, such as clarifying the advertising ban or standardizing packaging," said Deputy Health Minister Wojciech Konieczny.

Senator Beata Małecka-Libera expressed doubts about whether the ban would be an effective solution. In her opinion, the priorities should be to strive to clean the market of non-compliant products, to solve the problem of selling electronic cigarettes to minors, as well as their sale over the Internet.

- What is marketed legally is marketed throughout Europe. We are not an island. It is known what will happen if a ban is introduced in only one country. Besides, we are bound by directives. I believe that if we use all the statutory provisions and laws, we will really get the market restricted and cleared, or at least we will be sure that what is on the market is checked and allowed," the chairwoman pointed out.