BERLIN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The German federal government's Drug Commissioner Daniela Ludwig called for a ban on all tobacco advertising, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes and tobacco heating products, in an interview with the German Editorial Network (RND) on Monday.
Ludwig said that she would not intend to "belittle" the fact that products like e-cigarettes without nicotine could help smokers quit smoking.
But advertisements for e-cigarette liquids which taste like "chewing gum or popcorn" would be obviously aimed at young people, she emphasized.
According to Ludwig, it is "embarrassing" that Germany is the last country in the European Union where billboard advertisements for smoking products are still allowed.
In Germany, tobacco advertising is already banned in radio, television, newspapers and magazines as well as on the internet.
Back in 2016, Germany's government already adopted a law banning advertisements for cigarettes and e-cigarettes on billboards as well as in cinemas. However, the law has not been approved by the German parliament.
The German Smoking Tobacco Association (VdR) has said that a complete ban on tobacco advertising would be a demand "unworthy of discussion."
Such a ban would go against the German constitution, since "economic advertising is protected by freedom of expression" especially in regard to tobacco products, where the government would already be intervening "massively," according to the VdR.
"We must protect young people in particular from the dangers of smoking even better than before," Gitta Connemann, deputy chair of the governing Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) parliamentary group, told the German press agency (dpa) two weeks ago.
Decisions should be taken "as soon as possible" so that a ban on billboard tobacco advertising could be introduced during this legislative period, argued Rainer Spiering, member of the parliamentary group of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the CDU's coalition partner, according to the dpa.
In the interview with RND on Monday, Ludwig said that Germany would "need a clear regulation that leaves no loopholes before the end of the year."
