Blienert also advocated closing the last gaps in tobacco product advertising and sponsorship. Advertising for cigarettes, heaters and e-cigarettes at points of sale should be prohibited, as should the free sale of vaporizers, for example at festivals.
Blienert also wants to put a stop to sponsorship by tobacco manufacturers. The tobacco industry still spends around 250 million euros a year on advertising and sponsorship. “The goal must be to get this amount as close to zero as possible,” he told the editorial network Germany.
Neutral packaging for tobacco products is also overdue. The SPD politician emphasized that he was already in talks on all points with the responsible Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir (Greens).
For tobacco heaters, the federal government had already introduced a ban on aromatic tobacco at the beginning of April. Before that, the ban on flavored tobacco products only applied to cigarettes and rolling tobacco. E-cigarettes contain liquid and no tobacco. Flavorings are often added to the so-called liquid.
