KUALA LUMPUR: Maintaining sensible regulations to support the vape industry is important as it plays a critical role in smoking cessation.
According to The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBTVA), a UK-based association for the vaping sector, it also mimics consumer smoking behaviour and is a very efficient nicotine delivery system.
IBVTA chairman Marcus Saxton said it is crucial to implement policies and comprehensive regulations while being mindful of the potential consequences if governments do not set regulatory frameworks rationally.
"We are all extremely proud of the role that the UK vaping industry has played in tobacco control," he said, adding that continuous effort must be made to grow the current positive momentum within the UK vape industry.
"Our collective goal must be and is about harm reduction. It is very easy and emotive to move towards prohibition, but actually, the key is about finding the 'sweet spot' on some of these really important regulatory areas if we are going to maintain the trajectory and positive momentum that we currently have," he said at the virtual UK ECig Summit recently.
In sharing examples of how governments should formulate regulations, Saxton cited examples for vaping liquid flavours, product packaging, and controls to prevent youth vaping.
On flavours, Saxton often said the headline and debate that ensues is that flavours are purely about youth appeal.
However, he cited the latest UK Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) survey, where nearly two-thirds, or 64.6 per cent, of current vapers, are adult ex-smokers and not the youth community.
In the same survey, it was found that if flavours are not available, one in four would still try to get flavours, and one in five said that they would either smoke more or revert to smoking, clearly showing that any restrictions on flavours will result in negative harm reduction outcomes.
On packaging, Saxton said while some see it as a tool to appeal to youth, restrictions on packaging is not a necessary move.
"Based on the ASH survey, it was found that only 0.5 per cent of those aged between 11-18 in 2021, who have never smoked, are using vape.
"This shows that we are in a really good and well-controlled environment."
The debate, therefore, is about making vaping attractive to adult smokers.
"We need responsible packaging, but brands also need to distinguish themselves from each other. We also need relative harm messaging if we want further penetration in the future."
On youth vaping, in his presentation, Saxton shared key data that showed a decreased level of smoking prevalence since 2015, indicating that there are few new smokers and confirming that vaping is not a gateway to smoking.
Vape use has also been stable since 2019, with the UK not experiencing any youth vaping outbreaks.
In this space, regulations have been effective and targeted towards smokers, resulting in a successful switch from traditional cigarettes to less harmful vape.
In Malaysia, the vape industry has long called for regulations, with players urging the government to adopt a risk-proportionate regulatory framework.
This means regulators impose restrictions in proportion to the risk to health posed by the product.
For example, traditional cigarettes would have bold graphic warnings, but vaping products would have more subtle messages about the value of switching.
Vaping advertising would be permitted, subject to controls to prevent youth access.