THE Consumers’ Association of Penang is urging the government to seriously consider banning vaping altogether.

Its president Mohideen Abdul Kader said vaping will be the scourge of the future and will be difficult to eliminate just like smoking unless it is banned now.

Citing a study from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2022, Mohideen said Malaysian teens aged 13 to 17 using e-cigarette and vape rose from 9.8% in 2017 to 14.9% last year.

“Vape traders are exploiting school children by selling vape products to them illegally,” he said.

“CAP found many school children admitting they had vaped and this brings us back to the question of how they got access to vaping devices.

“Although there is a drop in cigarette smoking, the bad news is the statistics suggest a trend of teens switching to e-cigarettes and vape. The Health Ministry aptly described the emergence of these products as a ‘public health threat’, he said.

In April, Malaysia effectively legalised vaping after the government exempted nicotine liquids and gels as a controlled substance under the Poison Act 1952, allowing them to be sold on the open market and taxed.

The intention to impose such an excise duty had already been announced in October 2021 by the administration under Ismail Sabri Yaakob, and again by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when he tabled Budget 2023 in February.

Mohideen then said accidental nicotine poisoning among children is on the rise in Malaysia. 

He said Universiti Sains Malaysia-based National Poison Centre reported 66 calls of vaping-related poisoning between January 2015 and August 2022.

“Most cases involved children aged between one and four, the youngest being four months’ old,” he said.

“Ingestion of e-liquids can kill and many thousands of flavours being sold are enticing to children. Such poisoning cases have taken a different turn in recent times because there is an increasing number of young vapers who suffered from nicotine poisoning through inhalation rather than from consuming.”

“Substances contained in the e-cigarette or vape devices, when heated, will produce chemicals that can have an inflammatory effect on the lining of the lungs and cause e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury.”

The activist said the government has to pass the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 as soon as possible in view of the overwhelming scientific evidence that e-cigarettes and vapes have serious health consequences.

“Government has the duty to limit an individual’s liberty on health grounds.

“Hence, we urge for a total ban on e-cigarettes and vapes because parliament should not sacrifice the future of Malaysians to the industry,” he added. – August 30, 2023.