With Malaysia being the 2nd biggest market in the global vaping industry, the Health Ministry has been trying to stop the vaping culture from replacing the cigarette smoking culture.
Now, according to The Malay Mail Online, the DAP-led Penang government is looking to ban vapers from puffing at no-smoking zones.
State executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin (Seberang Jaya – PKR) was quoted as saying that the state is hugely concerned about the vaping culture, especially its impact on schoolchildren.
When interrupting a speech by backbencher RSN Rayer (Seri Delima – DAP), Dr Afif said:
The state has a Smoke Free Penang initiative at gazetted areas and we have proposed that vaping will also not be allowed in these non-smoking zones.
He also said that they are currently studying legal terms of banning vaping at the no-smoking zones because only products with nicotine content such as e-cigarettes are regulated under the Poison Act.
“Vapes that do not contain nicotine are not regulated under any law so we have to study the law on how to do this,” he said.
Rayer has earlier talked about the negative effects of the vaping culture on children, explaining that even students in their school uniform can access to the vape shops that have mushroomed across the country.
“Some of these places are dark places where vape can be misused,” he said, before giving an example of 3 vape shops in Perak Road.
He added:
This is very worrying because students in school uniforms are going into these places openly.
Last week, raids on vape outlets were conducted nationwide after the ministry announced that they would consfiscate vape juices (e-juices) and products with nicotine content. The ministry was also looking to implement an excise tax on e-cigarettes and vapes instead of ban it.
Source: The Malay Mail Online, The Star Online, NST Online.
