The Only Malay is Ecigz
Common sense prevails in a region otherwise bent on adopting outright vaping bans.
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by Dave Cross
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The news comes against a backdrop of sensationalist media coverage. Even when announcing the news The Star felt compelled to lead with: “There are concerns that people are using them to abuse drugs, that they are being sold to youths, and that there is no quality control of the products.”
“The Government won’t follow in the footsteps of neighbours like Brunei, Singapore, and Thailand in banning e-cigs but it would look at how to effectively regulate the industry instead,” explained doctor Razak Muttalif. The director of the National Institute of Respiratory Medicine went on to add: “We are aware that some people have misused the devices to do drugs but there are no plans for the Government to ban vaping.”
The news comes as a result of a study started in 2013 looking at the potential drawbacks of vaping. “There are many e-cig users who say that these devices are helpful for them to quit smoking,” the astute doctor highlighted. He warned that although “the Health Ministry wants to regulate e-cigs there’s a need to look at various other studies and see what the global community is doing.”
Noting a word of caution that would best be adopted by all countries contemplating how to move forward: “We cannot be rash.” Razak was the person in charge of the study and so his words carried a lot of weight when the findings were presented. The report noted that the single biggest hurdle facing anyone attempting to legislate e-liquids and the vape equipment is that vapers will simply use the online marketplace should the option be removed within the country. The effective banning of vaping in Australia and Norway hasn’t eradicated use; it cemented purchasing online from abroad.
Factasia (a consumer rights organisation) found “that adult smokers in Malaysia are overwhelmingly calling for e-cigarettes to be regulated properly and more widely available” in a recent survey. Malaysia is a country of approximately 30 million people and Factasia estimate there are up to one million vapers, 3% of the population compared to the UK’s 4.7%. Factasia’s survey confirmed that Malay vapers planned on buying from overseas if the government banned their choice of nicotine use.
Concerns over the standard and possible misuse of ecigs are repeated by other consumer organisations but at least the Penang Consumer Protection Association accepted: “It’s undeniable that e-cigs are the latest tool smokers are embracing to help them quit. At least smokers are turning away from conventional tobacco cigarettes because of e-cigs.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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