Health | Electronic cigarettes effects seen as less harmful than cigars

A man smokes an electronic cigarette

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), which use nicotine derived from a tobacco plant and are designed to mimic smoking, are currently facing a global challenge.
Late last year, the Health Bureau and the government proposed a ban on the trading of e-cigs in Macau to ensure public health.
However, a recent survey by the regional consumer advocacy group factasia.org (an organization that, according to its website, “seeks to represent the rights of adults in Asia who choose to enjoy smoking or other related forms of consumption of nicotine”) stated that most smokers want to be able to switch to less harmful alternatives to smoking, such as e-cigs.
Recognizing that e-cigs are less damaging to health than tobacco consumption, Public Health England (PHE) has said that they are “95 percent safer than smoking.” In Hong Kong, e-cigs have risen in popularity since 2012 and sales have been doubling in the past two years, according to the Asian Vape Association. However, the Hong Kong government has also proposed a ban on e-cigs, with experts saying that a lot of vapers strongly opposed the move, as it would force them to go back to tobacco cigarettes.
E-cigs are regulated as a tobacco-medicinal product in the Philippines, according to the president of the Philippine E-Cigarette Industry Association, Joey Dulay. “We’re fighting for a new category of legislation specifically for e-cigs – not too lenient and not too strict. What’s important is that consumers are protected by a safety standard,” he said.
Meanwhile in the U.S., e-cigs were categorized as medicine in 2008.
From May this year, e-cigs
and other nicotine vapor products will be regulated in the EU under the Tobacco Products Directive, which Britain’s The Guardian newspaper described as an extremely costly route.
Heneage Mitchell, another Factasia.org co-founder, believes that endorsing e-cigs is a primary way for governments to see positive results in national public heath policy. He argued that smokers shouldn’t be denied access to nicotine.  Staff reporter