The director of ENDS Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) has asked the Thai government to pass legislation that encourages smokers to switch to less-harmful methods of nicotine consumption, reports The Inquirer.
Asa Saligupta believes that Thailand’s current restrictions on smoking alternatives are pushing these products underground, resulting in an unregulated market that deprives the government of revenues and forces consumers to keep smoking.
Thailand banned on vapes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems in 2014, resulting in the arrest of local vapers and foreign tourists. Saligupta says the measure has discouraged smokers from switching to potentially less harmful innovative products.
According to Saligupta, Thailand should follow the lead of the Philippines, which passed a law that recognizes tobacco harm reduction as a legitimate tool in the campaign against smoking.
Republic Act 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, became law in 2022. The Vape Law regulates the importation, sale, packaging, distribution, use and communication of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products and novel tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
Thailand’s vaping regulations are among the strictest in Asia.
End Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) is urging Thailand to legalize vaping, citing the U.K. progressive approach to e-cigarettes as an example, reports Thaiger.
In Thailand, the sale and use of e-cigarettes are illegal, creating an unregulated black market and increased access for minors, according to ECST.
“E-cigarettes are legal in England, allowing its government to impose measures and effectively enforce the regulations to protect minors,” said Asa Saligupta, a representative of the ECST and the Facebook page “What are e-cigarettes?” “The U.K. government is set to allow £45 million [$56.05 million] to reduce the country’s smoking rate and another £3 million for clamping down on shops selling vapes to youths under the age of 18.”
“The ban [in Thailand] is claimed to protect minors, but the sales and use of e-cigarettes are overt and commonplace. Children can easily access e-cigarettes through online channels without any regulations or inspections,” said Saligupta.
Following the U.K.’s example could be the solution to Thailand’s e-cigarette policy issues, according to Maris Karanyawat. “The subcommittee for studying factors affecting the health system and monitoring the enforcement of public health laws issued a report, which is based on a comprehensive study and opinions of all groups involved in the e-cigarette issue. The report suggests that Thailand should lift the ban on e-cigarettes so that they can be appropriately controlled through the 2017 Tobacco Products Control Act.”
In preparation for the upcoming tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, scheduled to take place in Panama in November, Karanyawat said, “We hope that the Thai delegates will take into account the public health committee’s report, which recommends that a tobacco harm reduction approach be developed based on new scientific evidence which shows that e-cigarettes should be controlled differently from combustible cigarettes because they have different harmful effects.”
Activists are confident that Thailand will legalize vaping after the likely general elections in May. Vaping is currently prohibited in the kingdom, but discussions are ongoing to end the ban, according to ENDS Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST).
“This work has been several years in the making. It hasn’t stopped. In fact, draft vaping legislation awaits Thailand’s parliament to debate and ratify,” said ECST Director Asa Saligupta.
Saligupta notes that while anti-vaping campaigners appear to have the ear of the public health minister, most politicians and the public remain supportive of lifting the country’s vaping ban.
“I remain fully confident that safer nicotine products will be regulated in Thailand. Regulation will give consumers better protection, encourage more smokers to quit deadly cigarettes, and ensure we have much better control over youth vaping with a strict purchase age,” he said.
ECST says smoking kills about 50,000 Thai people every year.
“If we want to substantially reduce smoking-related illnesses and premature deaths, we must lift Thailand’s harsh ban and penalties on vape products,” said Saligupta.
According to ECST, nearly 70 countries have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products, leading to dramatic declines in their overall smoking rates.
“Countries which have chosen to legalize and regulate e-cigarettes have seen a fall in overall smoking rates and have much better control over youth vaping. It’s exciting for Thailand, and in fact the world, that the government is now set to overturn its ban on the sale of vape products,” says Asa Saligupta, director of ENDS Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST).
According to Saligupta, Thailand’s harsh ban and penalties on vape sales has meant too many smokers have been stuck with cigarettes, while young people buy e-cigarettes in the underground economy with no control over the purchase age or product safety standards.
“We’ve seen the legalization and regulation of vaping in places like the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand work very well. I’m delighted the Thai government is now listening to the science with the adoption of effective tobacco harm reduction (THR) policies now increasingly imminent,” he says.
The ECST director says Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, government officials, public health experts and advocates have all been key to finally addressing Thailand’s failed tobacco control policies.
He says that, despite the minister adopting an evidence-based approach, local conservative health groups continue to unfairly target him and publicly scaremonger.
“It was a big breakthrough last year when the minister told local media that vaping is safer for people trying to quit smoking. Since then, he has walked the talk—looking at ways vaping can be legalized. He fully understands it offers smokers a less harmful alternative to deadly cigarettes and protects non-smokers from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
“Consumer groups like ours have worked hard to encourage our politicians and officials to follow the significant international public health evidence. It has been a long journey, but we’re pleased with the progress the government’s working group continues to make on legalizing e-cigarette sales,” says Saligupta.
International research also shows countries which have adopted progressive policies around vaping have seen their smoking rates fall twice as fast as those countries that haven’t.
Nancy Loucas
Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Advocates (CAPHRA), says that by lifting its long ban on vape sales, Thailand will join about 70 countries that have legalized vaping.
“Around the world, vaping is saving millions of ex-smokers’ lives and can save many more if safer nicotine products are embraced, not demonized,” says Loucas. “Thailand’s 10 million smokers have long deserved a readily and legally available alternative to cigarettes. The country’s sky-high smoking rate is totally unacceptable but thanks to the work of ECST and others, it’s about to be seriously addressed.”
According to Loucas, Thailand has become increasingly isolated internationally with its harsh policies. Vapers currently risk arrests, sanctions and even imprisonment.
“By legalizing that sale of vapes, Thailand will join countries like the Philippines and Malaysia which are also waking up to the fact that vaping bans inevitably fail, leading to unnecessary smoking-related illnesses and deaths,” says Loucas.
