ANP
News from the NOS•today, 06:35
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Giulio Jessurun
online publisher
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Giulio Jessurun
online publisher
E-cigarettes are smoked more and more often in entertainment venues, although the smoking ban also applies to these cigarettes. This is evident from a NOS tour. According to restaurant security guards, it is difficult and expensive to enforce the ban.
“If you run to the dance floor after a night out, you will see more and more empty disposable e-cigarettes on the floor,” says The Hague Night Mayor Pat Smith. “A few years ago there may only have been one, but after the crown measurements, it has increased dramatically.”
Electronic cigarettes of vape it was initially marketed as a less unhealthy alternative to smoking. It is now clear that inhalation can also lead to damage to the airways and an increased risk of cancer.
“It is only ‘in’, especially among young people,” says Tom Voeten of the anti-smoking organization Clean Air Netherlands. “At the time it was marketed as a tool to get rid of your addiction, but in practice the marketing is much more aimed at young people and actually produces addiction.”
“They immediately put it in their pocket”
Marco van Velthoven, owner of several premises in Hilversum, confirms that e-cigarettes are smoked secretly on his premises. He doesn’t think it’s a big deal. “We only talk about it with people.” It’s a little harder to see someone smoking an e-cigarette indoors than if they’re lighting a real cigarette, he says. “Sometimes they quickly put the vape in their pocket.”
The fact that vaporizers are so inconspicuous makes it difficult for security guards to enforce the smoking ban, says Dick Schutting of security firm H&S Horeca Security. “I really don’t notice when you vape co-smokers with the smoke machine. “
According to him, more security guards are needed to properly enforce the smoking ban. “When we check for vaporizers, we have to bring an extra security guard or two and that’s too expensive for many club owners.”
According to Statistics Netherlands, 1.4% of the population over the age of twelve regularly smoke an e-cigarette. This is so much more in the nightlife crowd. According to a 2020 study by the Trimbos Institute, 22.4% of people who quit smoke e-cigarettes. This group was not asked if they also do it indoors, where it is prohibited.
Maurice Zwiers, security consultant for M&F Security, also confirms that e-cigarettes are regularly smoked on evenings out. His company insures clubs and parties in Groningen and Drenthe, among other places. “Sometimes we see normal cigarettes, but mostly electronic cigarettes”.
We can’t take action if we see disposable e-cigarettes on the floor, but it’s a reason to check that spot again later.
According to safety consultant Zwiers, many e-cigarette users are unaware of the ban on smoking indoors. But security guard Schutting thinks most of them know. According to the security officers, there is no intervention “because some club owners don’t want to spoil the atmosphere”. Catering establishments also have little chance of being fined because the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) does not check often.
The nightlife in which the NOS intervened says it does not recognize itself in the story of the inadequate controls of the smoking ban. The NVWA also states in a reply that it does not recognize itself in this. “We check when we expect violations to occur,” spokesman Lex Benden said. He also denies that the application of the use of electronic cigarettes is more difficult.
His organization cannot act if there are many disposable vaporizers on the floor. “But that’s a reason to come back later when we expect the rules to be broken.”
Ban on sweet tastes
The question is whether e-cigarettes will still often be smoked in clubs in the future. Beginning next year, a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes with attractive sweet flavors such as cola, peach, cotton candy and mango will be enforced. Only tobacco flavors can therefore be sold.
“That ban on flavorings will be very effective,” Voeten of Clean Air Netherlands expects. “You have already seen this with the ban on menthol cigarettes which came into force in Europe in 2020”.
According to International tobacco controlResearch funded by Longfonds and KWF, among other things, far more menthol cigarette smokers have successfully quit after the ban than “normal” cigarette smokers. Voeten thinks the ban on “fancy flavors” of e-cigarettes will have the same effect.
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