Brussels (AFP)

After four years of phasing out, the ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes applies from Wednesday throughout the European Union.

The new tobacco legislation passed in 2014 and implemented since 2016 long anticipated the disappearance of flavored cigarettes, including menthol.

They represented 5% of market share in 2012, which has been constantly increasing since the start of the 21st century, a source of concern for legislators. And in 2018, their market share was still 5%.

Scientific studies have shown that flavorings, like menthol, facilitate inhalation and can play a role in initiating tobacco use in young people. They have also been associated with greater addiction.

This type of cigarette is even more popular in Eastern Europe.

Targeted for years of pressure from the various lobbies involved, the anti-smoking directive aims primarily to discourage young people from starting to smoke. This same legislation gave rise to the warning about the dangerousness of cigarettes covering two thirds of the packets.

The EU was alarmed because as many as 700,000 premature deaths were attributed to smoking in the EU, despite a decline in the proportion of smokers in Europe, from 40% in 2002 to 28% in 2012.

In Poland, a country where menthol cigarettes represent nearly 30% of the market, according to the Chamber of Commerce, the expiration of the ban has however taken many smokers by surprise.

Consumer organization Forum Konsumentow has published a survey which shows that one week before the deadline, 51% of smokers were unaware of the ban and 20% said they were ready to buy menthol cigarettes at the market black, fairly developed and containing cigarettes of uncertain origin.

In the Netherlands, consumers have prepared the transition with reservations, according to local media.

"In the past few months, customers have started buying more and more. People are really a little worried, like + help me, I've been smoking all my life, what do I do now? +" , said Mary Gram, tobacconist in the coastal town of Monster, interviewed by the public channel NOS.

Other countries on the continent still allow the sale of these cigarettes, such as Switzerland.

© 2020 AFP