Vietnam plans to ban the use of vapes and heated tobacco products from 2025. Tobacco harm reduction experts warned that it would rob smokers of better alternatives, lead to a thriving black market, and increase tobacco consumption, and called on Vietnam to control rather than ban it outright.
Vietnam’s vape ban will undermine Southeast Asia’s tobacco harm reduction efforts, experts say
Experts on tobacco harm reduction have warned that Vietnam’s plan to ban the use of vapes could take away smokers’ access to better alternatives and allow them to continue smoking.
Asa Saligupta, head of the Anti-Smoking Organization of Thailand (ECST), said Vietnam’s vape ban goes against the global regulatory trend of vapes and heated tobacco products and is a “dangerous measure” that could undermine the harm of cigarettes in Southeast Asia.
- “Banning vapes will only push users to the black market, which is beyond the scope of regulatory authorities’ control over product quality and standards. Worse, it will tempt vape users to smoke again, and tobacco is the most dangerous way to consume tobacco tar.”
Experts call for regulation instead of a ban
Saliguta suggested that Vietnam should follow the Philippines’ practice of controlling vapes and other smoke-free commodities to provide better alternatives for smokers to ensure that such products are not used by minors.
Smokeless products such as vapes, heated tobacco, and oral nicotine have helped millions of smokers quit in countries such as the UK, Japan, and Sweden, where smoking rates have fallen rapidly, public health experts say.
Anton Israel, president of the Nicotine Consumers League of the Philippines (NCUP)said,
- “A ban will only push these smoke-free goods underground, resulting in lost government revenue and taking away better options for smokers.”
Dr. Lorenzo Mata Jr., president of Quit For Good, said the key is to regulate nicotine products and impose age restrictions to prevent underage use.
Joey Dulay, president of the Philippine vape Industry Association (PECIA), said this means that using technology to reduce the harm of smoking will be considered a crime, which will interfere with harm reduction and research and development.
Professor David Sweanor. Canadian public health law expert feels that e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are the opposite of other smoke-free devices and public health policy.
In early December 2024. The Vietnamese National Assembly passed a decision that plans to ban the production, trade, import, storage, transportation, and use of vapes, heated cigarettes, and other related substances from 2025.
