THE intention to tax vapes and electronic cigarettes , as announced by the Finance Minister during the tabling of Budget 2022, and the Health Minister's revelation that the government would be tabling a Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill regulating all tobacco-related products including vaping devices, are greeted with both welcome relief and alarm.
Findings from the Tobacco and E-cigarette Survey among Malaysian Adolescents 2016 showed that 36.9% of students started using EC between the ages of 14 and 15; and more young women are experimenting with EC for the first time compared to conventional cigarettes, which are viewed negatively. The US FDA found that when smokers switched from traditional cigarettes to “heat-not-burn” devices, there was no evidence of improvements in lung function or reductions in tobacco-related blood vessel damage and inflammation. The available evidence suggests that the devices are just as harmful to the lungs and immune system as traditional cigarettes.
Today, smoking cessation clinics, including those in Malaysia, are treating patients who are trying to quit smoking cigarettes, vape or both.