Vietnam to ban vaping products, heated tobacco

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Health has proposed banning heated tobacco products and vaping products in an effort to protect younger generations from products that are considered harmful to health.

At a conference on solutions to curb the country's tobacco epidemic, Tran Thi Trang, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's legislation department, said the current law on preventing tobacco-related harm does not contain any provisions on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.[1].

Vigilance is increasing around these products throughout the world

Tran Thi Trang said the ban on new nicotine products would be in line with the trend observed in countries in the region and around the world. Heated tobacco and vaping products, classified as traditional tobacco products, have been banned in Singapore since 2015. In Cambodia, the import and sale of e-cigarettes has been banned since 2014. The import and sale of heated tobacco devices was banned in March 2021.[2]In June 2022, Panama also banned the marketing of heated tobacco and vaping products.[3]. Other countries like Thailand, Mexico, Brazil[4], Brunei, and Laos have banned e-cigarettes. In these countries, the tobacco industry aggressively markets these products to young people. Manufacturers lobby policymakers intensively, presenting their new products as less harmful alternatives to traditional smoking.

According to Dr Nguyen Tuan Lam, technical officer at the World Health Organization, WHO calls for vigilance around these new products and recommends strengthening existing legal regulations on these products to minimize their use among young people and strengthening enforcement of regulations against trafficking, advertising and sale of these products.

High smoking prevalence and a key market for the tobacco industry

In recent years, a series of measures to curb smoking have been implemented in Vietnam, including the introduction of a tax policy, the posting of health warnings, the banning of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, smoking cessation assistance, the establishment of smoke-free spaces and media campaigns to raise awareness of the risks. However, tobacco remains very accessible in the country because it is easily accessible: sold everywhere and at very low cost. Thus, the smoking rate in Vietnam remains high, especially among men since 45% of them, among those aged 15 and above, consume tobacco compared to 1% of women.[5].

Tobacco control advocates say Vietnam and other countries in the region are ideal targets for tobacco companies because they have large smoking populations and relatively small vaping markets. Philip Morris, for example, has described Southeast Asia as a high-priority region due to strong consumer demand. Vietnam’s e-cigarette market has grown steadily since 2013, and is expected to continue to grow in the 2020s unless the country quickly and effectively regulates the sale of these products.[6].

Keywords: Vietnam, Southeast Asia, heated tobacco, vaping, ban,

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[1] Phan Anh, Health ministry proposes ban on vaping, heated tobacco products, Vietnam International, published November 23, 2022, accessed November 24, 2022

[2] Tobacco-free generation, Cambodia cracks down on online sales of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, published on August 26, 2022, consulted on November 24, 2022

[3] Tobacco-free generation, Panama bans sale of heated tobacco and vaping products, published on July 11, 2022, consulted on November 24, 2022

[4] Tobacco-free generation, Brazil renews ban on e-cigarettes, published on July 14, 2022, consulted on November 24, 2022

[5] Fact sheet, The Toll of tobacco in Vietnam, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

[6] Report, The Case for Tightening E-Cigarette Regulations in Southeast Asia, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health & the National University of Singapore, 2021