PM, DPM's children emerge as vape defenders

The vaping industry has found two influential defenders in the form of the children of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the Health Ministry insists on cracking down on its use.

The prime minister's son, Mohd Nazifuddin Najib, was quoted as saying by Free Malaysia today that he opposed any plans by the government to ban vaping.

"I hope this (vape) industry will continue to expand in Malaysia. I do not agree if the use of vape is banned.

"Many of the best vape products come from young local entrepreneurs who are creative and innovative, so I will give them encouragement,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister's daughter Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid also complained about the ‘criminal’ treatment against the vaping industry.

"Why don't the government conduct research into the negatives and positives of vaping?

"There is no need for widespread confiscation and making threatening statements as if vape is a crime," she said in a Facebook posting yesterday.

She pointed out that unlike tobacco cigarettes which contain up to 4,000 poisonous contents, vapes were significantly less harmful.

She added that government action against vaping was also hurting businesses.

The Health Ministry has began a crackdown on vaping despite a cabinet decision on Oct 30 not to ban it.

Previously, it was reported that vapour from electronic cigarettes could contain up to 15 times more cancer-causing formaldehyde compared to regular cigarettes, based on a research published in the New England Journal of Medicine in January.

However, Public Health England (PHE), an executive agency of the UK health department, in a review published in August reiterated the findings in its 2014 research that concluded vaping is around 95 percent safer than smoking.

It pointed out the damning findings published in NEJM was because the vaping liquid was overheated to levels ‘unpalatable’ to users and vapers do not smoke at such settings.

"While vaping may not be 100 percent safe, most of the chemicals causing smoking-related diseases are absent and the chemicals which are present pose limited danger.

"It has been previously estimated that electronic cigarettes are around 95 percent safer than smoking. This appears to remain a reasonable estimate," it said.