Lee Hsien Yang calls for ban on e-cigarettes to be lifted; vaping should be allowed

SINGAPORE: Lee Hsien Yang called for the ban on e-cigarettes to be lifted, citing that vaping is far less harmful than cigarettes.

In a Facebook post on Friday (Dec 8), Mr Lee shared an article reporting that 176 people were caught at ZoukOut in a vape crackdown. Mr Lee wrote that “Singapore should lift the ban (on) e-cigarettes. The benefits that would accrue from regulated use of e-cigarettes outweigh the potential risks involved. The evidence that vaping is far less harmful than smoking cigarettes is well documented and accepted”. He added that regulating vaping and imposing safety standards would be better.

“We should permit vaping for people trying to quit smoking. To dogmatically retain the existing regulations is simply bad public policy”, he called.

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said in a press release on Friday (Dec 8) that 176 people were caught at the ZoukOut dance music festival for possessing e-vaporisers. HSA said the offenders ranged from 18 to 51 years old. It added that they will be fined for their offences, with all e-vaporisers seized and confiscated. “Members of the public are reminded that the possession, use or purchase of e-vaporisers is illegal and carries a maximum fine of S$2,000”, the authority said.

“In Singapore, the importation and sale of e-cigarettes have always been banned under the blanket prohibition on imitation tobacco products. In 2017, we extended the ban to cover purchase, use and possession. The comprehensive ban is intended to protect the public from the harms of emerging tobacco products”, said then-Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs Amrin Amin, at a Health Promotion Board roadshow in 2019.

In his 2019 speech, he said: “Nicotine, found in e-cigarettes, is toxic and it can harm parts of the brain that control attention, memory and learning, and may result in permanent lowering of impulse control. Nicotine can also adversely affect the heart, reproductive system, lungs and kidneys. Nicotine is also highly addictive. That’s why it is difficult to quit smoking cigarettes and e-cigarettes. You can get hooked to e-cigarettes and later on, other tobacco products.

In fact, a number of studies conducted in the US, Canada, Poland, and United Kingdom have shown that e-cigarette use was associated with experimentation with cigarettes among youth. Youth who have used e-cigarettes are more likely to become regular smokers. This is what is known as the “gateway effect”, where e-cigarette users eventually transitioned to smoking cigarettes, or continue to use both tobacco products interchangeably as dual users.

Besides nicotine, e-cigarettes also contain other harmful cancer-causing substances such as benzene and heavy metals such as lead. There is no data on long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes as these are relatively new products. There’s virtually no research on how e-cigarette vapour affects lungs in youth over the long term”.  /TISG