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

The latest episode of The Advocates Voice (TAV 8) follows the World Health Organization (WHO) releasing its eighth annual report on the global tobacco epidemic last month.

TAV 8 will premiere at 4pm Hong Kong Time / 9am GMT on Sunday, 15 August.

CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) says the WHO’s latest attack on safer nicotine products, driven and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, deserves the global ridicule it has attracted.

With the call ‘we need to get louder’ and ‘we are the evidence’, TAV 8 will kick off with a passionate video presentation. Featuring leading Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) experts and advocates, a panel discussion will follow.

TAV 8 will include Founding Chairman of ATHRA (Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association) Dr Colin Mendelsohn. He will talk about the looming restrictions for Australian vapers. From 1 October, it will be illegal for anyone to import nicotine for personal use without a prescription from a medical doctor, with penalties up to $222,000.

As a medical doctor who works full-time in tobacco treatment, Dr Mendelsohn will discuss the regulation’s likely impact on Australian smokers and vapers, and if pro-vaping new Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce can change anything.

TAV 8 will provide THR public policy updates on what is happening in Malaysia and Mexico. It will also announce the launch of a new global advocacy initiative which encourages personal stories from around the world.

Led by Nancy Loucas, the TAV 8 panel will include Asia Pacific THR consumer advocates: Peter Paul Dator from the Philippines (Director of Vapers PH), Asa Saligupta (Director of ECST – ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand) and Samsul Kamal Ariffin (President of MOVE – Malaysian Organization of Vape Entities).

The discussion will centre around the impacts of the WHO report on consumers and what can, and should be, done to counter the misinformation narrative.

It will be simulcast on CAPHRA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/caphraorg and YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/3fvNF4m. Questions from viewers to the panel are encouraged.

“Consumer advocates are increasingly angry that the WHO continues to promote its baseless and incredibly destructive view on vaping. It comes despite leading scientific evidence confirming vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking and is the world’s most effective smoking cessation tool,” she says.

Nancy Loucas says the WHO seems determined to destroy the one version of harm reduction that has potential to reduce illness and save lives globally.

“The very organization charged with looking after our health continues to ramp up its efforts to deny people who smoke access to products that give them the chance to have a long and healthy life,” she says.

TAV 8 will also be encouraging viewers to sign the Right2Switch petition at change.org/v4v-petition. It urges the WHO to respect consumer rights and to stop demonizing Tobacco Harm Reduction options ahead of the next biennial meeting of the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in November.

To view the TAV 8 promotional video, visit https://youtu.be/QA-gVLWGcsk

‘Headlined ‘the battle between innovation and bully tactics’, the seventh episode of The Advocates Voice (TAV 7) led with public health expert Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos.

Hosted by Asia Pacific’s CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) the 11 July discussion is available to view Here.

Moderated by CAPHRA’s Nancy Loucas, TAV 7 included public relations expert and Medical Observer publisher, Jena Fetalino (Managing Director of JFPRC, Philippines). She believed the abuse levelled at THR advocates and the industry reflected just one thing.

“It shows that anti-vaping groups are now running out of arguments to justify their case and resort to defamation to demonize the vaping industry, the nicotine consumers, THR advocates, and THR in general,” said Ms Fetalino.

She encouraged THR advocates not to be silent but to confront ‘fake news’ head on: “They should be direct, straight forward and simple in their response, so that people will understand the issue, no matter how complex it may be.”

“Even if the attackers choose to focus on hitting below the belt, we should remain calm and present facts to inform and not to insult… We should be patient enough to clarify the issue by presenting our side, deny inaccurate information and rectify the errors… We should be armed with facts and evidence. In the end, the readers will discern what is true,” she said.

Ms Fetalino said instead of smokers, vapers and THR being demonized, the better story is who prevents smokers from changing, who prevents the tobacco industry from trying to become better, and who wants to block less harmful alternatives.

She was optimistic that opinions on THR will change over time, as ultimately science is on the side of THR.

Mirza Abeer (Director of ASAP Pakistan – Association for Smoking Alternatives in Pakistan), said a new wave of attacks is now being seen.

He described it as a natural progression. “Once THR opponents could no longer attack the science, they would target advocates and consumers. Such attacks must be met with fact-based arguments to break holes in their stories and show you’re not a soft target,” he said.

Asa Saligupta (Director of ECST – ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand) described it as fighting an uphill battle that would further escalate, but one in which consumers must stick together.

“If everyone thinks, ‘why bother it’s going to be too difficult’, then nothing’s going to happen…Then again, I look at my health, I came back from quitting smoking and turned to vaping. I look at my friends especially my sons… they quit smoking by vaping… Without Tobacco Harm Reduction, that would not be possible. They have thrived,” said Mr Saligupta.

Concluding the TAV 7 discussion, Dr Farsalinos said: ‘We need to be patient. We need to be consistent with our principals, with ethics of course, and we should not succumb to extortion. That’s my message.”

Consumer groups in the Asia Pacific region have also launched a petition at change.org/v4v-petition that urges the World Health Organisation (WHO) to respect consumer rights and to stop demonizing Tobacco Harm Reduction options ahead of the next biennial meeting of the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in November.

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

Headlined ‘the battle between innovation and bully tactics’, the international panel will explore a global web of anti-vape lies.

TAV 7 will be led by public health expert, Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos. It will be simulcast on CAPHRA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/caphraorg. Live questions from viewers to the panel are encouraged.

Hosted by Asia Pacific’s CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates), its Executive Coordinator, Nancy Loucas, says TAV is gaining a strong following among Tobacco Harm Reduction supporters and the wider public.

“Billionaire philanthropists are using their money to influence the World Health Organisation (WHO) – and in turn governments who rely on their guidance regarding tobacco policies. It’s a sophisticated global web of lies. Dr Farsalinos and the TAV panel will uncover the truth,” says Ms Loucas.

She says corrupting the public and academic narrative through funding research and influencing the media is out of control. TAV 7 will also shed light on the bully tactics being dispatched on consumer advocates and pro THR scientists.

“To think that vaping – the world’s most effective smoking cessation tool – is being demonised in such a systematic, global way needs to be fully exposed,” says Nancy Loucas.

The TAV 7 panel includes leading Asia Pacific THR consumer advocates: Asa Saligupta (Director of ECST – ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand, Mirza Abeer (Director of ASAP Pakistan – Association for Smoking Alternatives in Pakistan), and media expert Jena Fetalino (Director of JFPR Philippines).

Consumer groups in the Asia Pacific region have also launched a petition at change.org/v4v-petition that urges the World Health Organisation (WHO) to respect consumer rights and to stop demonizing Tobacco Harm Reduction options ahead of the next biennial meeting of the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in November.

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

Research by the Mayo Clinic published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, titled ‘Electronic Cigarette Use Is Not Associated with COVID-19 Diagnosis’ involved nearly 70,000 patients. The study concluded that e-cigarettes ‘do not appear to increase susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection’.

“For over a year, we’ve had to endure WHO’s latest round of orchestrated lies about vaping. Outrageously, various WHO briefings and materials on COVID have stated that ‘e-cigarette use may increase the risk of infection’, without offering any scientific basis whatsoever,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).

Last year a review of global medical research into the relationship between vaping and contracting COVID-19 showed no such connection. In fact, Ms Loucas says debate continues on whether nicotine may actually exert protective effects. Regardless, nothing seemed to stop WHO from peddling its scare tactics about safer nicotine products with the media keen to publish stories that were speculative at best.

“Thankfully, credible, trusted media sources such as Forbes have given this latest Mayo Clinic study the credit it’s due, headlining ‘No, Vaping Doesn’t Make You More Susceptible To Coronavirus’. Good on Forbes for profiling the evidence, not profiting from all the emotion,” she says.

In his article, Forbes’ science reporter notes that any research claiming an association between vaping and COVID has received widespread media coverage. At the same time, ‘studies producing null results have been largely ignored, leading to outcome reporting bias.’

CAPHRA believes the global pandemic provided WHO with a unique opportunity to promote better access to, and wider use of, safer nicotine products. Instead, WHO doubled down on its war against vaping, missing a once in a lifetime opportunity to switch more of the world’s 1.3 billion smokers onto vaping – scientifically deemed 95% less harmful than smoking.

“WHO has continued to deliberately peddle lies about vaping. WHO’s actions have stopped millions of adult smokers from quitting deadly combustible cigarettes. In fact, while WHO has been scaring people about vaping and COVID, smoking cessation rates have slowed or reversed in many countries. Lockdowns and stress have not helped, but we didn’t have to see more smoking,” she says.

CAPHRA says it’s keen to shed some light on the Mayo Clinic study. Unlike previous studies, it’s a much larger population sample, exuding superior methodology. However, because of its headline findings, the study has received virtually no coverage.

CAPHRA will continue to expose WHO’s war on vaping and the bullying tactics applied. In fact, it has pulled together an international panel to expose a well-established global web of anti-vape lies.

The seventh episode of The Advocates Voice (TAV 7) will be broadcast on CAPHRA’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/caphraorg at 6.00pm Hong Kong Time – 11.00am GMT – on Sunday, 11 July.

Consumer groups in the Asia Pacific region have also launched a petition at change.org/v4v-petition that urges the World Health Organisation (WHO) to respect consumer rights and to stop demonizing Tobacco Harm Reduction options ahead of the next biennial meeting of the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in November.

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

The Advocates Voice, or TAV, has a growing following among Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) supporters and the public. Sunday’s episode will be simulcast on CAPHRA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/caphraorg. Questions from viewers to the panel are encouraged.

Hosted by Asia Pacific’s coalition of consumer THR organisations, CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates), TAV’s sixth episode will premiere at 12.00pm Hong Kong Time or 4.00pm New Zealand Time.

It will include a panel discussion on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) latest Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg) Report and its guidance for harm reduced products which CAPHRA has already described as deeply disturbing.

“WHO’s negative and obstructive approach towards safer nicotine vaping products continues to impact smoking cessation rates, costing lives globally. WHO continues to treat smoking and nicotine vaping as the same and ignores all the science,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA.

“We will discuss TobReg and the action that advocates can take, and what consumers and the public need to do to protect their rights to make informed choices for their health,” she says.

TAV is keen to also confront a recent avalanche of mistruths and myths about vaping which the media seems determined to publicise.

“The ‘youth vaping epidemic’ seems to have made a comeback as a media favourite, but we have some very solid empirical data which quashes any emotion some are trying to drum up.

“Some media now also suggest that vape flavours might be dangerous to inhale. Then we have other ridiculous claims such as the one by SPCA New Zealand that nicotine vaping is harmful to pets! TAV will deal to all these, plus any other baseless beat ups, in its typically full and frank format,” she says.

“We will also talk about the risk proportionate bill that’s now in the Senate in the Philippines. It may open the floodgates for Southeast Asia public health policy to adopt harm reduction as a goal,” says Ms Loucas.

TAV’s latest social media campaign for its upcoming Facebook livestream, headlines ‘We know that science, evidence and facts will win this war’.

“Many in the mainstream media seem determined to run WHO’s lines, beating up on vaping despite it being the world’s most effective smoking cessation tool. We need to get the focus squarely back on combustible smoking which continues to kill eight million people globally every year,” she says.

CAPHRA says despite the media’s best efforts, scientists, researchers, and health officials stand by vaping. This includes Public Health England which has never wavered from its 2018 independent review of evidence which concluded that ‘e-cigarettes are around 95% safer than combustible cigarettes’.

“World Vape Day on 30 May was one of the biggest we’ve seen. TAV, or The Advocates Voice, is also gathering momentum with the first Sunday of every month fast becoming appointment viewing.

“To save more lives, we need to keep fighting. Knowledge is power, and there is nothing more powerful than an educated public,” says Nancy Loucas.