CAP: Teachers say school children starting to vape

PETALING JAYA: The Consumers Association of Penang says that it has received complaints from teachers who say that children as young as 12 years old have started to vape.

CAP president S. M. Mohd Idris said the teachers complained the issue had caused disciplinary issues in schools.

“They complained that they cannot control the students,” he said.

Mohd Idris said CAP was disappointed that the Cabinet had decided to regulate e-cigarette instead of banning it.

“Why is the Cabinet rushing into the decision so quickly since the Health Ministry was still looking into the safety of e-cigarettes?” he said.

He said teachers had complained to them that children in primary and secondary schools had started to vape in toilets and bring their equipment to schools, which they were not supposed to.

While thinking that vaping was fashionable, the children were also attracted to the fruity flavours, he said.

Idris added that nasi kandar restaurant operators had also complained that customers refused to stop vaping and even wanted to get into a fight with them, saying that there was no law against it, although there was nicotine in e-cigarettes.

“The Cabinet is creating more social problems by not banning e-cigarettes,” he said.

Idris also expressed concern that the children were buying cheaper vaping equipment which might not be safe.

He also said there was concern the children would later pick up smoking and drugs.

He said neighbouring countries had banned e-cigarettes and Malaysia should do likewise.

The Cabinet had recently announced its decision against imposing a ban on electronic ci­garettes.

This was despite a statement by Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya that new laws relating to tobacco, electro­nic cigarettes or vape, and shisha, would be formulated.

Smoking shisha for an hour was equivalent to smoking 150 cigarettes, Dr Hilmi was quoted as saying.

He said cigarettes had 87 substances that could cause cancer while the propylene glycol in vape could cause also cancer when it was heated and inhaled.

Following the Cabinet decision, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam then announced that the ministry would educate the public over the harmful effects of vaping and regulate its use.

“The Cabinet fully recognises the need for greater public health education into the harmful ef­fects of vaping and the need for stringently regulating it,” he said.