The hidden world behind illegal vapes

More and more Dutch young people are becoming addicted to vaping. This is not surprising, as illegal vapes with sweet flavors and excessive nicotine levels are easily accessible online. How is this possible?

Argos and The Investigative Desk delved into the world of vape dealers, old-fashioned tobacco giants, and Chinese traders. We discovered that a foreign company has attempted to weaken Dutch regulations. And that as long as politicians target the wrong enemy, it will be very difficult to stop the vaping tidal wave.

Listen to the Argos podcast here.

This investigation was made possible through a collaboration between Argos, The Investigative Desk, and Submarine, with support from the FBJP (www.fondsbjp.nl) and KWF Kankerbestrijding.

Interview with Laurens Groenveld
Laurens Groeneveld is one of the investigative journalists who contributed to this series

What prompted you to start the research on vaping?
This investigation specifically focussed on the Chinese role in the production, distribution and illegal sales of flavored vapes. It started more than a year ago when my partner for this project, Olaf Geurts, notified me that in earlier investigations about vapes, he came across all these brand names he never heard of. After some initial research, he discovered that these were all from China, and that they were not related to the classic tobacco industry, which until now has been held responsible for the rapid rise of the use of vapes. 

Why is this story important?
The story matters from a healthcare perspective because kids as young as nine years old are caught with vapes. We found stories of children ending up in a coma because of vaping. Besides this the nicotine addiction is causing sleep disorders and other mental health issues with the young users. 

Secondly, this is about policy. Experts, politicians and even doctors refer to vapes as the next trick of the tobacco industry. They are largely blaming the wrong party, which means that the rules they implement do not stop the problem. These new vape producers are fiercely competitive and are simply making a fortune by exploiting an opportunity in the market. We explain that in order to stop this issue, political pressure needs to be applied to China, which so far no one has been willing to do. 

How did the collaboration with Argos come about?
This project started out originally as a plan for a mini podcast series of 3 episodes. However, due to the high expenses of such an investigation and recording costs, we soon came across some budget issues, which led to the decision to change our publication strategy. Since we already had recorded many interviews during our research, we still wanted to create an audio production. It however needed to have a significant length as well, to cover all the materials we found. Argos has a reputation for deep diving, long radio documentaries. Therefore this seemed, and turned out to be a good partner. 

Is there a moment during the research that has stayed with you?
The vape industry is a multi-billion dollar market, with high stakes for the businesses involved. I came across several sources involved in the distribution in China of vapes, and they simply said they could not talk to me, because by doing so, they would endanger their lives or it meant they would have to leave the country.