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THE HAGUE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Electronic cigarettes andwater pipes will be banned in the Netherlands for children under18 from next year, the government said, after finding that thedevices were more damaging to health than expected.
E-cigarettes, which electrically vapourise anicotine-infused solution, are defended by their proponents as ahealthier alternative to conventional cigarettes, but thegovernment said its studies showed they were still harmful.
"With this ban I want to protect young people from thedamage e-cigarettes cause," said health state secretary MartinVan Rijn in a statement. "I also want to avoid young peoplethinking that these e-cigarettes in hip colours are normal."
The government said that studies carried out by the Dutchfood safety and public health institutes had shown thate-cigarettes were "more harmful than expected" to users' health.
A recent U.S. study showed that teens and young adults who"vape" are more likely to graduate to smoking combustiblecigarettes than those who do not.
The market for e-cigarettes is growing fast around the worldas conventional smoking declines in response to massive publichealth campaigns and high sin taxes imposed on the practice.
Tobacco companies, including BAT, Philip Morris, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco, areall jostling for position in the emerging vaping market, whichcould top $7 billion in size this year.
The Netherlands will ban advertising of the devices when thenew law comes into force in May 2016. E-cigarettes will besubject to new safety requirements and their packaging will haveto carry health warnings.
The Netherlands, known for its relaxed attitude towards theconsumption of soft drugs, is one of few countries left inEurope where it is still permitted to smoke indoors in certainbars.
(Reporting By Anthony Deutsch, writing by Thomas Escritt,editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
British American Tobacco (BATS)