Taking effect on 3 August, the regulation of vaping devices precedes the imminent legalization of vape sales. It follows years of campaigning by MOVE and other Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) supporters.

The Malaysian Government has now moved to gazette the Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking) of Electronic Cigarette Devices Order 2022 under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011.Manufacturers and importers will need to ensure all devices are certified and labelled to show consumers that safety standards have been met and the products are safe to use. All e-liquids will need to be registered.

“This is historic news after a long-fought battle. It paves the way for a legalized market and safer products. Regulating vaping products, restricting sales to adults, and applying significant penalties to any breaches will help many more Malaysian smokers to quit deadly cigarettes,” says Samsul Kamal Ariffin, President of MOVE.

Mr Ariffin says in recent months there have been frustrating parliamentary delays in progressing the Tobacco & Smoking Control Bill – not helped by the pending general election. However, with the safety standards now gazetted, it sets in train the legalization of vapes sales.

“Regulating, not banning, vaping will not only save smokers lives it will generate much needed tax revenue for our country which is desperately needed post pandemic.

“This is not only good news for smokers and their loved ones, but every Malaysian will benefit from the extra revenue gained from vape manufacturing, importing and sales. Up until now it has been a black market with unapproved products not contributing tax and with no safety assurances,” he says.

MOVE pays tribute to the leadership of Malaysia’s Health Minister YB Khairy Jamaluddin who championed the Government’s decision to regulate the vape industry.

“The Government has done well in preparing the legislation and regulation of products deemed 95% less harmful than combustible tobacco. It fully understands that making safer nicotine products legally accessible is the only way to seriously reduce Malaysia’s unnecessarily high smoking rates,” says Mr Ariffin.

CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) agrees that Malaysia’s leadership on vaping will see the country’s smoking rates will dramatically fall.

“Malaysia will join 67 other progressive countries worldwide which have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products. Importantly, all of them have subsequently registered a dramatic decline in smoking,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA.

CAPHRA says effective advocacy from Malaysian consumer groups was key to the Government’s decision last year to legalise liquid nicotine and move forward with regulation.

“We’re particularly proud of our member organisation MOVE and Samsul’s tireless advocacy over many years. The 3rd of August is worthy of a big celebration and will be well noted across the Asia Pacific region. Vaping bans fail badly – as Australia is discovering the hard way,” says Ms Loucas.

A global collaboration of THR consumer groups, sCOPe, has launched a comprehensive library of online panel discussions and presentations. In November 2021, sCOPe broadcast around the clock during COP9 – the 9th Conference of Parties for the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). To access sCOPe’s online library visit, https://bit.ly/319zzkx

Boasting over 14,000 testimonials, CAPHRA is calling on those who’ve quit cigarettes through smoke-free nicotine alternatives to tell their story on www.righttovape.org

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images and graphics – please visit https://apthrmedia.org

“Australia’s political leaders need to pull their heads out of the sand. Annually over 20,000 Australian smokers die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses and 2.3 million still smoke. Alarmingly, however, nobody wants to seriously fix successive governments’ failure to reduce tobacco harm,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Co-ordinator of CAPHRA.

CAPHRA’s comments come as campaigning ramps up ahead of Australia’s federal election on 21 May.

Australia is the only Western democracy that requires a nicotine prescription to vape. Further, its Department of Health’s Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022 – 2030 proposes additional measures to prevent smokers from switching to safer nicotine products.

“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Australians support a Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) approach and the regulated availability of safer alternatives. We’re now calling on voters to confront and quiz campaigning Australian MPs as to why they continue to support such a failed ‘quit or die’ approach on tobacco control,” says Ms Loucas.

CAPHRA says adding to politicians’ reluctance is the fact that many in the Australian media continue to perpetuate myths about the country’s smoking success and risks around vaping.

One leading morning paper last month declared that ‘Australia is the envy of the world when it comes to our success at cutting smoking rates’. Joining a chorus, it called for the federal government to ‘redouble its efforts to crack down on vaping, before it becomes endemic among our young people and entices them towards tobacco.’

“As neighbouring and more progressive New Zealand has proven, vaping is an off-ramp to smoking, not an on-ramp. New Zealand is on target to reach Smokefree 2025 where 5% or less smoke. In stark contrast, Australia is miles off, simply because deadly cigarettes remain easier to obtain than proven alternatives deemed 95% less harmful,” says Ms Loucas.

Australian THR expert Dr Colin Mendelsohn describes last decade’s national smoking strategy as an ‘embarrassing failure’. A target of 10% adult daily smoking was set for 2018, but only 13.8% was achieved. He believes without vaping readily accessible to adult smokers, Australia’s 10% target will be missed again.

“In the past, a few Liberal MPs voiced a pro-vaping position and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was publicly supportive, so we held some hope for positive change. Australia, however, continues to lag further behind most Asia Pacific countries when it comes to adopting tobacco control policies that work,” she says.

Last year Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) expanded its prescription-only model with customs clamping down at the border on the likes of personal imports of nicotine vaping liquids from overseas websites.

Ms Loucas says also helping to bury the vape debate this election is the attraction of tobacco tax. In fact, ongoing increases to tobacco excise have made it the fourth largest individual tax collected by Australia’s federal government at an estimated $15 billion per financial year.

CAPHRA notes that nearly 70 countries have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products. All of them have reported a dramatic decline in smoking prevalence since.

“Australia is light years behind the US, UK, and New Zealand, with some key Asian countries now looking to lift their failed vaping bans. If campaigning Australian politicians really want to save lives this election, well here is their best opportunity by simply a stroke of the pen,” says Nancy Loucas.

A recent episode of The Advocates Voice (TAV) discussed Australia’s failed ‘quit or die’ approach. To view the episode, visit https://youtu.be/HnuApgneKPI

A global collaboration of THR consumer groups, sCOPe, has launched a comprehensive library of online panel discussions and presentations. In November 2021, sCOPe broadcast around the clock during COP9 – the 9th Conference of Parties for the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). To access sCOPe’s online library visit, https://bit.ly/319zzkx

Boasting over 14,000 testimonials, CAPHRA is calling on those who’ve quit cigarettes through smoke-free nicotine alternatives to tell their story on www.righttovape.org

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images and graphics – please visit https://apthrmedia.org

Her comments come as the Philippines awaits presidential approval to regulate vaping while Malaysia and Thailand look to lift their failed vaping bans.

“When these three nations legalise vaping, they will be among at least 70 countries worldwide that have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products. All have registered a dramatic decline in smoking, so the message is clear: Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) is here to stay,” says Ms Loucas.

Alarmingly, when it comes to vaping an undue influence of private wealth over public policy remains strong. Many Asia Pacific countries, she says, are pressured by an overt anti-vape agenda sponsored by foreign think tanks such as those funded by the foundation of American billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

“The World Health Organization all the way down to non-governmental organisations are unduly influenced by the money that can be had by implementing strategies and policies crafted to benefit a select few.”

Ms Loucas says the policies and people who promote the anti-vape agenda appear to be altruistic and charitable to the world at large and are therefore accepted without question. The dark side, however, is that these organisations are predatory and patronising, and the policies they are pushing are inhumane.

“Smoking rates have declined as the use of safer nicotine products has increased – that’s the truth,” says Ms Loucas.

“Safer nicotine products do work to reduce harm from tobacco. However, because they are not developed by corporations who can profit from their manufacture or sale, they must be shut down as they are a threat. They’re also a major threat to government revenue – with tobacco excise tax sadly wanted in this post-COVID world,” she added.

CAPHRA says there is an ongoing refusal to accept the science and evidence supporting vaping, despite it being presented by leading scientists, research institutions and public health experts across the world.

“It’s deplorable that developing countries with limited resources, scientific experts and public health budgets have the funding carrot dangled in front of them plus a scripted tobacco control policy. Bullying them into implementing a failed ‘quit or die’ strategy rather than a proven THR approach shows no deference for the local context or situation.”

Also deplorable, she says, is the well-resourced demonization of those publicly advocating for better access to safer nicotine products over deadly cigarettes.

“Nicotine is not the enemy, nor are the adult consumers of nicotine. Vaping has literally saved their lives. Millions of happier and healthier people are the real-world evidence”, says Ms Loucas.

Keen for more countries to adopt progressive regulations around vaping, THR advocates are coming together to help each other with guidance and support. Dubbed The Advocates Voice ‘Shorts’ Series, the five sessions will be livestreamed fortnightly via the CAPHRA and sCOPe YouTube channels at 12:00pm NZT. To view the first one – The Art of Self Care – on 26 March, visit https://youtu.be/3-2wWX_g65k

A global collaboration of THR consumer groups, sCOPe, has launched a comprehensive library of online panel discussions and presentations. In November 2021, sCOPe broadcast around the clock during COP9 – the 9th Conference of Parties for the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). To access sCOPe’s online library visit, https://bit.ly/319zzkx

Boasting over 14,000 testimonials, CAPHRA is calling on those who’ve quit cigarettes through smoke-free nicotine alternatives to tell their story on www.righttovape.org

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images and graphics – please visit https://apthrmedia.org

Representatives of the Ends Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) and administrators of the Facebook page “What is e-cigarette” attended the August 17 meeting at the Office of the Ombudsman to tackle the petition questioning the ban on sales and import of e-cigarettes.

Officials of the Department of Foreign Trade, Office of the Consumer Protection Board, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, and the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center also attended the meeting.

“We would like to thank the Ombudsman for being the hope of the people and for giving the e-cigarette user network a chance to clarify the information as well as inviting all parties to discuss in order to be fair to e-cigarette users and to find appropriate solutions together,” ECST representative Asa Saligupta said in a statement.

The Ministry of Commerce earlier confirmed the resolution to keep the ban on e-cigarettes, citing TRC’s report which drew doubts among people affected by the ban.

“The current ban on e-cigarettes is a violation of the people’s right to access safer alternative products and accurate information about e-cigarettes. This is considered to be an unfair practice of deliberately refraining from performing the duty of inspecting information presented from all sides,” Mr. Saligupta said.

“We believe that good regulation must not restrict the rights of adults who want access to less harmful alternative products, and at the same time measures to protect children and youth from accessing these products. This is a guideline that more than 60 countries around the world use to regulate the product according to the law. We hope that the committee of the Ministry of Commerce and the TRC’s subsequent reviews will be impartial and take into account the impacts on every group of individuals,” Mr. Saligupta said.

Mr. Saligupta said that amid the unfair ban on e-cigarettes, they asked the Office of the Ombudsman to provide justice to more than half a million e-cigarette users in Thailand. “We estimate that there are currently over 500,000 e-cigarette users nationwide, plus 11 million smokers who are looking for a less harmful alternative to replace smoking,” he said.

“We are glad that the Ombudsman remains an institution that the people in suffering can depend on in finding a just and transparent solution to the problem. Hence, the most important key is the people’s participation and listening to the opinions of the public, especially e-cigarette users, which we are considered to be directly impacted by the ban,” said Mr. Saligupta.

Mr. Saligupta said findings from scientific agencies in the U.S., the UK, and other European countries concluded that e-cigarettes generate less harmful chemicals than what are found in traditional cigarettes. “We have tried to bring this information to both the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Public Health, but the presented information has never been considered to make amendments on the ban,” he said.

The Ministry of Commerce asked the TRC to conduct a study on e-cigarettes, but the results did not take into account the data from the different sides, according to Mr. Saligupta.

“It also obstructs the participation of people who have a different point of view, which is against the intention of the legislation and the study of the achievement of the law. The ban has been in place for five years, and both the country and the people have not benefitted at all,” he said.

Mr. Maris Karanyawat, another representative of ECST, said that Thailand’s e-cigarette ban goes against foreign guidelines that focus on the importance of research and scientific approaches.

For example, Hong Kong and New Zealand have recently considered control regulations on alternative products, including e-cigarettes where there were open public hearings to listen to the opinions of the people and took into consideration results from scientific studies that include information on e-cigarettes’ advantages and disadvantages, impact on health, society, and economy.

“Either right or wrong, the society deserves to know the science or the whole truth and not distorted inaccurate information like nowadays,” Mr. Karanyawat said.

E-cigarette products are prohibited from being imported and distributed in the Kingdom of Thailand, according to the Ministry of Commerce announcement in 2014, and the prohibition on sale and service according to the announcement of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board in 2015.

Mr. Karanyawat said that despite the prohibition, there are still more than 500,000 e-cigarette users who are secretly selling and buying through illegal channels, resulting in a large underground market.

The market value of e-cigarettes is estimated to be more than 6 billion baht annually. As the products are prohibited, the government cannot collect taxes, depriving the State of potential income and creating a burden on the government agencies that have to arrest and crack down on the illicit goods.

This also creates confusion within the public about the potential of e-cigarettes as tobacco harm reduction products. E-cigarettes are being sold widely, uncontrolled by the government, leaving opportunities for extortion by government officials and providing no measures to prevent youth access.

Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator for the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) said that the work that had been done by the government of New Zealand should be the precedent for the Kingdom of Thailand, as well as the wider Asia Pacific region.

“New Zealand’s acknowledgement of their responsibilities as a signatory to WHO FCTC, under Article 5.3 by engaging with the community and their understanding that harm reduction is one of the two precepts of the article allowed New Zealand to come up with a basic framework that balances the needs of smokers and the needs of the general public,” she said. “The push for a regulated market was the initiative of the consumers of New Zealand, just as they are doing in Thailand. It is a grassroots initiative from the main stakeholders, who are the real experts,” Loucas added.

About ECST
Ends Cigarette Smoke Thailand is a consumer advocacy organization that strives to promote tobacco harm reduction in the face of blanket bans, fines and jail time for consumers who wish to use alternative nicotine consumption products, specifically Electronic Liquid Vaporizers.