Environmental hazard of disposable e-cigarettes: Time to act!

Disposable e-cigarettes are an environmental hazard. Environmental destruction and the violation of human rights are inherent in their supply chains. We asked people in Bangladesh, Chile and Peru to find out what they want for their environment, their lives and their future.

In our first video “What’s actually in disposable e-cigarettes“, we showed the raw materials used and the impact of growing tobacco and mining lithium and copper.

For the new video, we asked people in Bangladesh what it would look like if tobacco was stopped immediately. We wanted to know from activists in Chile how they are fighting against lithium mining and what they envision for the future. And from Peru, we received a clear call to the EU and its member states: We need an EU supply chain law!

Together with the German Supply Chain Law Initiative and the campaign Espinar Cannot Wait, we are therefore calling for an effective EU due diligence law. It is absolutely essential that the German government approves the law in the upcoming vote at EU level. Because companies need to be obliged to prevent human rights violations and environmental destruction in their supply chains and to compensate people harmed by their practices. Not only when it comes to the environmental hazard of disposable e-cigarettes, but for all products.

Online advertising for disposable e-cigarettes is prohibited!

In the last part of the video, we show how influencers promote disposable e-cigarettes on social media. Our current volunteer at Unfairtobacco researched this issue and discovered many examples on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram and TikTok. Some influencers use disposable e-cigarettes in their Twitch or YouTube streams. They do not specifically advertise a product, but they are role models that encourage imitation.

Other influencers and musicians advertise specific brands or even have their own brands of disposable e-cigarettes that they promote on their channels. The target group is clear: youth, young people. Bright colors, many flavours, the promise of coolness. We showed this in a small Insta series on the Unfairtobacco Insta channel.

However, advertising disposable e-cigarettes on the internet is prohibited by law in Germany. We are therefore calling for the existing laws to be better enforced by the relevant authorities.

Read our new factsheet here: Disposable e-cigarettes: Advertising on social media by influencers.