Growing use of e-cigarettes cause for concern

The government yesterday expressed concern over the growing use of e-cigarettes.

This is very harmful for public health and the production, import and marketing of e-cigarettes and other emerging tobacco products need to be stopped quickly, Health Education and Family Planning Secretary Sheikh Yousuf Harun told reporters during a press briefing at the health ministry yesterday.

Harun said they will take up the matter with the higher authorities in this regard.

According to a research by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in USA, in the last one year, the use of tobacco products among school-going teens increased by 78 percent.

Meanwhile, the most recent report by World Health Organization (WHO) on Global Tobacco Epidemic-2019 has identified e-cigarettes as “a harmful product for health”.

An electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is a handheld battery-powered vaporiser that simulates smoking and provides some of the behavioral aspects of smoking, including the hand-to-mouth action, but without burning tobacco. Using an e-cigarette is known as “vaping”, according to Wikipedia.

Yousuf said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a tobacco-free country by 2040.

To achieve the target, a draft National Tobacco Control Guideline-2019 has been prepared which will be placed in the cabinet shortly, the health education and family planning secretary added.

Thirty countries including India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand and Singapore have already banned e-cigarettes, he said.

According to CDC reports released on September 27, 2019, as of September 24, 805 confirmed and probable cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use or vaping have been reported to CDC by 46 states and the US Virgin Islands.

Those cases included 12 deaths in 10 states. More than two-thirds of the patients are male. The median age of patients is 23, with about 62 percent of patients aged between 18 and 34, according to the report.