Menthol cigarettes will disappear from the stores in a moment

On May 20, in less than three months, the sale of menthol cigarettes (including those with a capsule) will be banned throughout the European Union. A survey conducted by the Consumer Forum shows that half of Poles who smoke have still not heard anything about this matter.

EU directive, which will result in a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes, so-called cigarettes click (i.e. a capsule with menthol flavor) and flavored tobacco for self-production of cigarettes.

So we are talking here about a ban on selling a product on which - to a lesser or greater extent - approx. 3 million Poles depend. How many of them do you know about the ban on May 20? Let's give voice to professor Dominika Maison, who conducted the whole study:

- Almost half of smokers smoke menthol cigarettes. We wanted to check if people know about the planned ban on their sale and how it will affect them. Awareness in this topic is very small. Almost half of smokers know nothing about planned changes. This is a very serious problem, because consumers have the right to know about changes in the regulations that affect them. What consequences can this have? The subjective sense of restriction of freedom, that is, "I use a product, it suddenly disappears," says Maison.

Half of the smokers mean that up to 4.5 million Polish citizens are probably not aware of the impending ban. If we expand the study group to include non-smokers, 2/3 of all Poles have not heard about the planned introduction of the ban. An equally interesting question is how did people who learn about the ban on selling menthols react during the study?

81 percent Poles claim that the ban on the sale of menthol will not reduce the number of smokers

When asked "what will you do when the ban comes into force?" 51 percent smokers said they would switch to normal cigarettes, 18 percent declared that they would switch to menthol cigarettes smuggled (sic!), 12% quit smoking, 2% will mentholize cigarettes on its own (not exactly known), and 16 percent switching to alternative products, i.e. e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters.

The most disturbing answer is switching to menthol cigarettes from smuggling. Increased interest in the shadow economy is nothing good - the black market means high risk for consumers, because products sold illegally are not subject to any quality or composition controls.

- In our opinion, the prohibition policy is not always an effective tactic in the fight against smoking. According to the study, the vast majority of smokers, despite the forthcoming ban, do not intend to give up the addiction. Extremely worrying is the fact that only 16 percent. people are considering switching to legal alternative products such as e-cigarettes or tobacco heaters, while almost 20 percent smokers declare their willingness to buy them from illegal and dangerous sources. We will monitor the effects of this legal change, "says Agnieszka Plencler, president of the Consumer Forum

Legal smoking of menthols after May 20

The ban on the sale of tobacco products with menthol aromas will not cover liquids for e-cigarettes and cartridges for tobacco heaters. Both products satisfy craving for nicotine and will be the only legal products offering menthol flavor after the ban.

E-cigarettes and tobacco heaters differ from each other in the principle of operation. The former heat up the liquid containing nicotine, created on the basis of glycerin. It is worth knowing that nicotine in e-cigarette liquids does not always come from a natural source - some manufacturers wanting to save on the production process use synthetic nicotine, produced in the laboratory. Therefore, when buying a liquid, it is worth paying attention to its composition and source of origin. Cheaper liquids from suspicious sources may contain unexplored, highly toxic substances.

In the case of tobacco heaters, nicotine aerosol is created by heating tobacco cartridges with natural origin nicotine. The first product of this type in Poland was the IQOS system. Cartridges are heated to a much lower temperature than the one at which tobacco is burned in ordinary cigarettes, thanks to which the heating process creates significantly less harmful substances than when smoking cigarettes.

This fact is confirmed by both the American FDA agency research and research commissioned by Philip Morris, the manufacturer of the IQOS system . According to the FDA, tobacco heaters are a product "appropriate to protect public health," inter alia because it produces "less or lower levels of certain toxins than cigarettes."

E-cigarettes and tobacco heaters are increasingly recommended by experts to smokers who do not want to (or cannot) stop smoking completely. This week, another report was published by Public Health England, the public health agency in the UK, encouraging hardcore smokers to switch to electronic alternatives. According to experts, they are a much better alternative to cigarettes.

So after May 20, smokers of menthol flavored tobacco will be able to find a legal alternative on the market for menthol cigarettes banned by the EC. Of course, it would be a much better idea to quit smoking, but considering the number of smokers in Poland, it's hard for me to believe that those few million menthol fans will be able to quit the addiction overnight.

The full content of the survey conducted by the Consumer Forum can be found here .

Menthol cigarettes will disappear from the stores in a moment