Banning electronic cigarette

Electronic cigarettes are new in Bangladesh. But they are making their presence felt in the capital city as well as in the countryside. These battery-powered cigarettes are now very popular with young people as they are marketed as a 'safer' alternative to traditional cigarette smoking. The use of e-cigarettes is now higher among university students than adults. And their use has increased dramatically in the past five years. The e-cigarette market in Bangladesh is also growing every year. According to Statista, an online platform specialised in data gathering and visualisation, the revenue generated from the country's e-cigarette market amounted to $94.8 million so far in 2023.

Once e-cigarette or vape shops were found only in the posh areas of Dhaka. Now, they are reportedly available across the country. At least 78 per cent of these shops opened between 2017 and 2021, says a research report. In the guise of designated smoking area for customers, many upscale restaurants in Dhaka's Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Banani and Uttara display and sell e-cigarettes, shisha, and vaping products, without any verification  or age-check of the customer. What these smoking zones offer is a welcoming interior, charming salespeople and a luxury feel of smoking together, mainly by youngsters.

E-cigarettes are electronic devices that heat a liquid into an aerosol that the user inhales. The liquid comes with hundreds of flavours and usually has nicotine and other additives. Experts often consider e-cigarettes as tobacco products because most of them contain nicotine, which comes from tobacco. Besides nicotine, e-cigarettes can contain harmful ingredients like tin, nickel and lead. This is why, the World Health Organisation categorises e-cigarettes as dangerous to human health. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, solid particles of aerosol or liquid from e-cigarettes can enter the lungs, carrying harmful poisons such as formaldehyde, and pose significant risks to respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Many university students start smoking e-cigarettes as a fashion trend but often get addicted to it. Regular cigarette smokers looking for a way out of this habit often switch to e-cigarettes. But they fall into yet another form of nicotine trap. Consuming e-cigarette is as damaging as smoking conventional cigarettes. When young adults consume products like e-cigarettes or shisha do not realise their long-term harmful impacts. These include lung-related diseases, nicotine addiction and various cerebral emergencies including anxiety. Consuming e-cigarettes has become a gateway to drug addiction, too. It is learnt that many youths who come to drug rehabilitation centres first used e-cigarettes before becoming drug addicts.

Tobacco companies, however, claim that e-cigarettes are a 'healthier' alternative to regular cigarettes. And some even run social media campaigns about how their products help smokers quit traditional smoking. These companies have been able to target adolescents and young adults in their promotional campaigns due to lack of legislation regarding e-cigarettes in the country. Bangladesh has not yet set any minimum age requirement for purchase of e-cigarettes, nor does the country have any laws to regulate such products. This has resulted in online shops selling e-cigarettes without any health warnings on the packaging or enquiring about the users' age. As e-cigarettes pose a severe threat to public health, the government should take measures to ban it.

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