Vaping research helps drive policy change in Israel
In recent years, vaping has rapidly emerged as a pressing public health concern in Israel, particularly among adolescents. While adult use remains relatively modest, the rising prevalence among young people has raised significant concerns regarding nicotine dependence and long-term health outcomes.
By 2024, 46% of 15–17-year-olds who had experimented with smoking reported that e-cigarettes were their first product. Current use was also widespread: 15.7% of 15–17-year-olds and 7.6% of 12–14-year-olds identified as active users. Vaping was the leading gateway into nicotine use for young people in Israel.
Regulators responded with a series of measures. As part of this work, Smoke Free Israel looked beyond national borders to understand how young people perceive vaping and how regulation influences behaviour.
Smoke Free Israel’s CEO Shira Kislev recalled her first encounter with The Behaviour Change Collaborative’s (The BCC) youth vaping research in Australia:
“I first came across The Behaviour Change Collaborative’s Influencing Gen Vape research in Professor Chapman’s blog, and it immediately stood out to me. The findings closely reflected patterns we were beginning to observe in Israel.
At that time, we were also preparing our own focus groups with teenagers to better understand the local dynamics of vaping, which made the research particularly relevant and timely.”
Kislev commented on a LinkedIn post about the research, to which The BCC’s Founder and Managing Director, Luke van der Beeke, responded and suggested a meeting. The pair met via Teams to discuss the research in more detail, and specifically, its implications for policy in Israel.
Twelve months later new regulations had come into effect and The BCC’s work was cited in the Regulatory Impact Assessment.
“For us, the BCC’s youth research was more than interesting – it directly shaped policy. When Israel passed new regulations in 2025, the findings helped ensure that health warnings cover 75% of every tobacco and nicotine package, including e-cigarettes.”
Shira Kislev, CEO, Smoke Free Israel
Kislev emphasised that The BCC’s youth vaping research went beyond Smoke Free Israel’s organisational objectives. It offered insights that deepened understanding of the vaping phenomenon and informed the broader regulatory process.
“The Being Gen Vape report allowed us to reflect on what was similar and what was different in Israel. When the patterns were similar, it strengthened the validity of what we were observing locally. When they differed, it pushed us to ask why, and to consider what those differences meant.”
At the time, Israeli law mandated plain packaging but relied only on text-based warnings. The BCC’s findings revealed that when vape warnings looked different from cigarette warnings, adolescents assumed vaping was safer.
“With cigarettes, at least they’re showing on the package what smoking cigarettes can do to you. And they don’t do that on vape boxes.” – Influencing Gen Vape (Year 7/8, male, vapes)
This insight was also cited in Israel’s Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), supporting legislation for combined picture-and-text warnings and reinforcing the need for consistency across all nicotine products to avoid misperceptions of risk.
“The BCC’s youth vaping research offered a powerful reminder of how regulation shapes perception.”
By 2025, Israel’s new regulations came into effect. All tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, hookah, and e-cigarettes were required to carry picture-and-text health warnings covering 75% of packaging.
Israel’s experience underscores the importance of cross-national evidence in shaping effective public health policy. Insights from The BCC’s research have helped validate local findings, refine understanding, and strengthen regulation.
Being Gen Vape was published in 2022 by The Behaviour Change Collaborative. The research was funded by Heathway WA, supported by an in-kind contribution of $30,000 by The BCC. We also released Implications for Intervention Design which has been used extensively by health practitioners in Australia and overseas.
The Behaviour Change Collaborative then secured funding from the Victorian Health Promotion Association (VicHealth) to design and conduct a behavioural segmentation of teen vaping. The resulting report, Influencing Gen Vape, was launched in 2024 and continues to be used to inform campaigns and social marketing programs.
We also authored Talking to Your Teen About Vaping – A Conversation Guide for Parents – developed in partnership with VicHealth.
All documents are available on our resources page.
Finally, The BCC would like to sincerely thank Shira Kislev for being so generous with her time and contributing to this article.
