Italy’s leading consumer organization Altroconsumo said on its official website that it bought 15 different brands of e-cigarettes in Italy’s e-cigarette official store and e-commerce platform for testing. The brands of these products include BECOMATE, ELFBAR, GEEKBAR, LIKBAR, PUFF BAR, REVOLTAGE, SALT SWITCH, VUSE, X-BAR.
The results show that only ELFBAR, VUSE, BECOMATE, GEEKBAR and LIKBAR e-cigarettes have been certified by the Customs and Monopoly Office (Adm) to be legally sold in Italy. PUFF BAR, REVOLTAGE, SALT SWITCH and X-BAR e-cigarettes have not been certified for compliance, but also have excessive nicotine content and no warning labels.
Altroconsumo said it had submitted the product violation to the Italian Customs and Monopoly Agency, the Ministry of Enterprise and Manufacturing, and the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.
Only 5 out of 15 e-cigarettes have been certified for compliance
Of these 15 e-cigarettes, only 5 (e-cigarettes from ELFBAR, VUSE, BECOMATE, GEEKBAR and LIKBAR) carry the compliance certification mark of the Customs and Monopoly Office.
The remaining 10 (e-cigarettes from PUFF BAR, REVOLTAGE, SALT SWITCH, X-BAR) are not registered with the Customs and Monopoly Office and cannot be sold in Italy, but they can still be purchased on the official e-cigarette shop and e-commerce platforms without any age verification. This includes the Amazon platform, where Altroconsumo writes:
“Although at the time of writing, it has removed the product from the link where we purchased it.”
Three PUFF BAR products contain excessive amounts of smoke oil
According to the test results, PUFF BAR’s three e-cigarette products (PUFF BAR Mango, PUFF BAR Flow > Lychee Ice, PUFF BAR Plus Lychee Ice) not only have no compliance certification mark, There were also problems with nicotine levels and excessive tank capacity.
The nicotine content on the Puff Bar Mango label is 5% (equivalent to 50 mg per ml of liquid), while the legal maximum limit is 2% (equivalent to 20 mg/ml). Puff Bar Flow > Lychee Ice and Puff Bar Plus Lychee Ice come in 3.5ml and 6.5ml tanks, respectively, while the legislation limits the capacity to 2 ml (plus, the nicotine content per 5% is also marked on site; Then the percentage allowed in Italy is 2% and needs to be indicated on the package).
Four of the seven e-commerce platforms do not have age verification
In Italy, the sale of nicotine products to minors is banned, so websites are required to verify the age of consumers. Altroconsumo said in the article that when they bought e-cigarettes on these online platforms, four of the seven websites (Puffbar.eu/it, It.salt-switch.com, X-bar.co/it, Amazon.it) did not have age verification. The remaining three (vaporoso.it, geekbar-shop.it, vuse.com/it) required an ID card and tax code.
According to Italian Decree No. 6/2016, buyers of tobacco products (including new generation products such as heated tobacco), e-cigarettes or vaping fluids must meet age requirements. Unless the age of the buyer is evident, the seller must request the relevant documentation for verification. The notification of the Customs and Monopoly Office (N.39/2022) also extends this requirement to nicotine-free products. For online retailers, it is an obligation to ask for documentation because the age of the buyer cannot be determined.
“Tobacco nicotine free” or there is false advertising
The original e-cigarettes contained free nicotine (or base nicotine) : extracted from tobacco leaves and purified by various chemical treatments, producing aerosols that were perceived as irritating and bitter, giving so-called throat irritation, which may not be liked by people.
However, single-use e-cigarettes can contain nicotine salts or synthetic nicotine.
Nicotine salts are obtained by adding acidic additives (such as benzoic acid) to free nicotine, and they improve the inhalation experience because the aerosol is less irritating to the throat. As a result, even at high concentrations of nicotine, people perceive it less. For those who do not smoke and young people, the more popular e-cigarettes containing nicotine salts on the market may encourage them to start and continue smoking.
In addition, preliminary investigations indicate that nicotine salts are more easily absorbed and absorbed faster by the body than free nicotine products because they are less volatile (i.e. disperse less in the air, allowing more nicotine to enter the lungs).
Synthetic nicotine, on the other hand, is used in certain e-cigarette products, such as PUFF BAR: it is not extracted from tobacco leaves like free nicotine and nicotine salts, but is synthesized in a laboratory, so it is different. Nicotine comes in two forms: S-nicotine and R-nicotine. About 99% of natural nicotine (present in tobacco leaves) is S-nicotine, while synthetic nicotine contains 50% S-nicotine and 50% R-nicotine. However, the health effects of R-nicotine in this single-use e-cigarette are still unclear.
Altroconsumo noted that the type of nicotine (whether salt, free or synthetic) contained in the device was not clearly specified in the purchased e-cigarette products. Presumably, the “smokeless nicotine” label used on PUFF BAR products indicates the presence of synthetic nicotine (a formulation that can be misleading and almost looks like a “nicotine-free product,” but is actually the U.S. definition of synthetic nicotine). According to an article published in the journal Tobacco Control, PUFF BAR has patented this nicotine to avoid putting it under the category of tobacco products controlled by the FDA in the United States.
11 products did not have health warning labels
Altroconsumo said that because of the health risks of e-cigarettes, single-use e-cigarettes must provide some instructions on the health and safety aspects of these products on the label and information sheet in Italian, as required by law. Examples include instructions for use and storage, information that the product is not suitable for youth and non-smokers, and a warning that “products containing nicotine, a substance that is highly addictive.” Not suitable for non-smokers “etc.
Four out of five compliant products (i.e., those bearing the Italian Customs and monopoly agency logo) comply with the health labelling regulations.
However, the information sheet for one (GEEK BAR) is written in French, so it is not available for sale in the Italian market.
Ten non-standard products also failed to comply with health labeling regulations. In particular, six nicotine-containing products provide health information and warnings in other languages (French, English or German) on their labels and internal information sheets. Among them, the information of the three PUFF BAR devices is relatively simple.
In addition, they are prohibited for use by minors under the age of 21, not 18 as required by Italian law. The other four nicotine-free products did not carry the health warning required by Italian regulations – “This product may contain substances harmful to health.” For more information, please call the Italian Health Department on the green number 800554088.”
Only 3 products meet the environmental protection and WEEE requirements
Although there is a lot of confusion, single-use e-cigarettes fall under the category of electronic waste equipment when depleted and are subject to the requirements of the WEEE (European Union Recycling Directive). The test found that only three products qualified (Elf Bar Vape Pen, Lik Bar Cotton Candy and Vuse Go Bluberry Ice), whose manufacturers or importers are all based in Italy and are the only products registered with WEEE. It is worth mentioning that vaporoso.it, an online platform for selling Elfbars, has also registered.
These three products are also the only ones with a large enough RAEE waste bin symbol on the label and instructions for proper disposal.
References:
【1】Sigarette usa e getta, trovati prodotti irregolari online: salute dei giovani e ambiente a rischio