Misinformation and discredited arguments should not guide vaping policy

By Schumann Zaman

As vapes, also known as e-cigarettes, emerge as the most effective quit smoking tool, Bangladesh seems dangerously reluctant to take these highly credible new findings into account when formulating policy. 

The argument for using vapes as quit smoking tools is now supported by very strong clinical data and countries that implemented new knowledge into smoking cessation programs are achieving remarkable successes. 50-70 thousand smokers in England quit smoking just in a single year through vaping, study found.  

It needs little deliberation to appreciate that Bangladesh policymakers should carefully consider scientific evidence and good practices in developed countries which have successfully reduced smoking by allowing vape to act as a cessation tool. 

Unfortunately, the response of policymakers so far has been reactionary which recently resulted in a draft amendment to the tobacco laws that would ban vaping in the country. More alarmingly even, important decision making bodies and individuals are putting forward arguments against vaping that are inaccurate and seem to show a serious lack of understanding of basic harm reduction principles. 

Advocates for vape ban failed to show why Bangladesh should not consider finding by the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) that vapes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes. 

Since the UK government body published this landmark finding, no other research or study has disputed its claims. The UK government has reported that some of the highest success rates of those trying to quit smoking are among people using vapes. UK health bodies, in research led by researchers at King’s College London, found that vaping is better than nicotine replacement therapy for stopping smoking. 

What about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading US health body that was not as liberal to adopt vaping as its UK counterpart? The CDC’s official position is that quitting cigarette smoking through vaping is beneficial to smokers: “E-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers who are not pregnant if used as a complete substitute for regular cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products,” CDC stated.

The growing acceptance of vape as a quit smoking tool is clearly visible and it takes particular effort to not want to see that. It is also very evident that the reason for its continuing acceptance is not to promote alternative smoking, but to help smokers quit the much more harmful addiction of smoking the traditional combustible cigarettes. 

Bangladesh policymakers fear, legitimately, that the next generation of youths, who are non-smokers, might take up vaping. However, evidence suggests this was not the case in New Zealand. A study by ASH New Zealand and the University of Auckland shows despite some young people experimenting with vaping, daily use of vape occurs overwhelmingly in existing smokers. 

Interestingly, saying that the youth might get attracted to vaping is an extraordinary cop out seeing that cigarette smoking is still legal and continues to claim lives, while vaping on the other hand has been extremely successful in helping people quit. 

Another argument often floated by banning advocates is that examples from developed countries like the UK and New Zealand are not context-appropriate for Bangladesh, ignoring the fact that all public health policies need region-specific modifications before implementation. But this does not mean that new innovations are dismissed simply because they were invented in a different region. 

As it happens, there is a study that found that 62 lakh people in Bangladesh will quit smoking if risk-proportionate regulations are enacted following the UK model, data analysis by consumer advocacy group Consumer Choice Center found.

The sensible approach for policymakers would be to carefully consider all avenues that can help Bangladesh achieve its tobacco-free goal by 2040. And the reality is that traditional policy of pricing consumers out of the smoking addiction is barely working, particularly given that tobacco companies find new branding strategies to create loopholes in the higher pricing restrictions. 

It would be a disservice to public health if Bangladesh policymakers dismiss the growing scientific evidence that show vaping to be both significantly less harmful than smoking and a highly effective quitting tool. In fact, by adopting sensible regulations for vaping Bangladesh can take one big stride forward toward ending smoking once and for all. 

Writer, President of Bangladesh Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Traders Association (BENDSTA)