In a recently published opinion piece, the President of the Bangladesh Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Traders Association (BENDSTA), Schumann Zaman wants the government to be on the lookout for misinformation that is likely to cloud the process of developing the country’s vaping policy.
Zaman says that while studies from across the world have shown that vaping products are some of the most effective tools when it comes to helping cigarette smoking addicts quit the government of Bangladesh does not seem to be interested in taking these findings into account as it works on formulating a new vaping policy for the country.
He points out that clinical studies in England showed that vaping products helped over 50 thousand smokers in the country quit smoking in a single year. Studies in other countries have also shown that vaping products have helped former smokers quit smoking in large numbers. It, therefore, came as a shocker when policymakers in Bangladesh pass a blanket draft of tobacco laws amendments that proposes to ban vaping products without considering the benefits of the said products.
Zaman writes that this has happened at a time when the country’s leading healthy institutions are putting forward inaccurate information about vaping. Even more disheartening is the fact that no one seems to understand the benefits the country will rip by regulating and not banning vaping products as proposed.
Of most importance to the general public is the fact that vaping products have been found to much safer than cigarettes. For example, Public Health England ( Currently, UK health Security Agency) found that vaping is 95% safer when compared to smoking cigarettes. By failing to consider such findings and proposing to ban vapes and not cigarettes the Bangladesh government shows that it cares less about the health of its people and especially those trying to quit cigarette addiction.
According to Zaman, there are many examples of government bodies that have done studies and approved vapes as beneficial tools for those who want to quit smoking. He says that even the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has been working tirelessly to regulate the sale of vaping products in the United States still believes that e-cigarettes are beneficial to adult smokers trying to quit the habit. This position is taken after a series of studies in the developed world showed that these products have health benefits.
In Bangladesh, the public has been accepting vaping products as important tools for those who want to quit smoking. He says that vapes in the country are not promoted as an alternative to cigarettes. He believes that the fact that many other governments have been putting in place measures to protect the youth who have never smoked from vaping is the reason why policymakers in Bangladesh want to ban the products. The problem with this is that the current problem of youth vaping requires proper regulation of the vaping industry not banning of the products. This is because banning vaping products will likely hurt more people, that they were intended to help instead of helping solve the problem.
