THE Advanced Centre for Addiction Treatment Advocacy (ACATA) has voiced its concern over the danger of sharing inaccurate information on harm reduced products – in particular, vape – among stakeholders who are developing regulations for vape in Malaysia.
The advocate of issues related to addiction therapy was reacting to a comment by Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, a public health expert from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), who recently shared her views on the misconceptions surrounding e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury (EVALI).
“EVALI emerged after a string of reports on lung injuries among youths using vape in the US in 2019. The initial blame was on vaping, leading to backlash against vaping and even a complete ban in Massachusetts which lasted months, resulting in some vape shops closing for good,” commented ACATA’s president Dr Arifin Fii.
“However, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) later identified that the real cause of the EVALI was the presence of vitamin E acetate which was added into illegal Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) adulterated e-juices.”
As such, vaping was not real cause of the fatalities but the misuse and abuse of other products. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the reputation of vape remains bad until today, discouraging smokers from switching to this less harmful alternative.”
Dr Arifin further noted that such misconception about vaping is not only common among the public but also among medical professionals and government stakeholders.
“The inaccurate reports on EVALI are prevalent, leaving policymakers doubtful over the safety and effectiveness of using harm reduction strategies in Malaysia, particularly on the effectiveness and safety of vape,” he pointed out.
“These are of course valid concerns. Vape is not completely harmless and as vape is relatively new, the long-term effect is not yet fully known. However, scientific evidence so far strongly suggest that vape is likely to be far less harmful to health compared to cigarette smoking.”
Dr Arifin added: “We know for certain that smoking is very harmful for health and linked to many diseases. Vape can be a less harmful alternative and an effective way to help people successfully quit smoking. In fact, various credible international studies support harm reduction strategies.”
Moving forward, Dr Arifin stressed on the need for comprehensive regulations in order to ensure the safety of vape users in view of its use as an alternative to smoking and a quit smoking tool.
“For harm reduction strategy to work, realistic and risk-proportionate regulatory framework that is different from tobacco products must be introduced. Evidence on risks and benefit must be studied and this data can be used to develop regulations that are appropriate for products such as vape,” he suggested.
“Educating people at risk, namely smokers, about vaping is important as they are those who will benefit the most from vaping. Most important is that they are receiving the correct, accurate and evidence-based information.” – June 30, 2022
