Belgium is banning the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes starting Jan. 1, becoming the first European Union country to do so.
The decision stems from concerns over the products’ health and environmental impacts. The country’s health minister Frank Vandenbroucke told the Associated Press that cheap e-cigarettes have become a problem for public health since they make it easy for teenagers to get hooked on nicotine.
“Disposable e-cigarettes is a new product simply designed to attract new consumers,” Vandenbroucke told the outlet in an interview.
“E-cigarettes often contain nicotine,” he added. “Nicotine makes you addicted to nicotine. Nicotine is bad for your health. These are fact[s].”
Vandenbroucke also warned about the environmental impact of disposable e-cigarettes, emphasizing the problems caused by their plastic bodies, batteries, and internal circuits.
“They create hazardous waste chemicals still present in what people throw away,” Vandenbroucke said.
Belgium follows other countries around the world that have implemented tougher restrictions on e-cigarettes, vapes, and other nicotine products.
In July, Australia prohibited the sale of vapes outside of pharmacies.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised the minimum age for certain rules regarding the sale of tobacco products. Starting Sept. 30, smokers under the age of 30 had to start showing photo identification to buy tobacco products including e-cigarettes. Previously, retailers only had to verify with photo ID the age of customers under 27.
The FDA also prohibited retailers from selling tobacco products via vending machines in spaces where people under 21 are present or permitted to enter. The previous rule only applied to locations where people under 18 where present.
The rule changes are part of government efforts to decrease underage tobacco sales. Over 95% of U.S. adults who smoke daily smoked their first cigarette by the age of 21, according to the FDA.
In a report in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the tobacco industry designed products that appeal to children and marketed them aggressively via social media, concerts and sporting events.
The WHO estimates that about 37 million people aged 13 to 15 use tobacco.
Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 480,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the CDC.