Malaysia: CAP Urges Government To Ban The E-cigarette

Source from:  BERNAMA (Malaysian National News Agency) (my)  06/25/2013

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) today urged the Ministry of Health to immediately ban the sale and use of the electronic cigarette or e-cigarette, claiming that more youths may be enticed to use it and make it counter-productive as a smoking-cessation device.

Its president, S.M. Mohamed Idris, said scientists at the University of Athens, Greece, found that e-cigarettes caused damage to the lungs, and that nicotine on its own was an extremely toxic poison similar to pesticide.

"When too much is taken, it can lead to nicotine poisoning, which causes vomiting and nausea and headache," he told reporters.

The electronic cigarette that does not contain tobacco was first introduced in China in May 2004.

It is a battery-operated device that uses a liquid-filled cartridge that contains mint, vanilla, cherry, coffee bean and a host of other flavourings.

CAP education officer N.V. Subbarow said a retailer at a shopping mall here revealed that more youths were buying e-cigarettes.

The retailer had also said that many women also bought the cigarette as the social stigma attached to it was much less than with the real cigarette, he said.

Subbarow said that while there was an age restriction on the sale of real cigarettes, there was no age limit for buying e-cigarettes and this could lead to more children and youths buying and using them.

"Based on our own survey, we found out that the majority of e-cigarette consumers are teenagers and out of 10 consumers, three are women," he said. He also said that e-cigarettes were easily available at gift shops.

E-cigarettes are being marketed as effective smoking-cessation devices and sold for RM50 and RM90 whereas the liquid-filled bottle is sold for between RM10 and RM20. Enditem