Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has proposed banning new-generation tobacco products (NGTPs), including electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes) and heated tobacco products (HTPs), amid rising concerns over the associated health risks.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan on Monday announced the proposal at a grilling held in conjunction with the ongoing eighth session of the 15th-tenure National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi.

“The health ministry proposed that the government call on the NA to ban the use of e-cigarettes and HTPs,” Lan said.

Vietnam joined the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and promulgated the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms more than 10 years ago, prior to the arrival of NGTPs in Vietnam.

“We hope that there will be an NA resolution banning e-cigarettes and HTPs before the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms is amended and submitted to the NA for consideration and approval,” Lan said.

According to Lan, e-cigarettes and HTPs pose grave health risks to Vietnamese citizens. 

In 2023, the country recorded nearly 1,300 hospitalizations due to health problems directly associated with NGTPs, including acute lung injuries and strokes.

Approximately five percent of these patients experienced long-term health issues following treatment.

Notably, last year also saw 86 cases involving 155 people who added drugs to NGTPs.   

A 2020 survey on tobacco use among adults in 34 provinces showed that the rate of e-cigarette and HTP users surged to 3.6 percent in 2020 from 0.2 percent in 2015, a striking 18-fold increase.

This rapid elevation in tobacco product use brings significant health risks, especially for young people.

In 2019, around 2.6 percent of the Vietnamese students aged 13-17 used NGTPs.

By 2022, the usage rate among the students aged 13-15 had climbed to 3.5 percent, with 4.3 percent of the boys and 2.8 percent of the girls using these products, according to health ministry statistics.

The Ministry of Education and Training’s Physical Education Department said that e-cigarette usage among students has spiked significantly, to eight percent in 2023 from 2.6 percent in 2019.

Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, deputy director of the health ministry’s Legal Department, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the ministry has begun disseminating information about the harmful effects of NGTPs.

At a May hearing held by the NA’s Committee for Social Affairs, the health ministry presented evidence from World Health Organization and health experts highlighting the clear dangers of e-cigarettes and HTPs.

Based on this evidence, the ministry proposed that the government urge the NA to pass a resolution regulating the production, trade, import, and advertising of these products.

According to Thuy, the ministry is now planning draft amendments to the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms to include specific provisions on NGTPs.

“The sooner we ban e-cigarettes and HTPs, the more we reduce the number of new users of these products, especially among minors,” Thuy concluded.

The health ministry’s proposal has been lauded by several other ministries. 

Lieut. Col. Nguyen Duy Trung, from the Ministry of Public Security’s Investigation Police Department for Drug Crimes, said that the ministry agreed with the health ministry’s proposed prohibition of the production, trade, import, and advertising of e-cigarettes and HTPs.

The ban would establish a legal basis for police to handle the illegal trade of NGTPs in Vietnam, the official said.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien stated that e-cigarettes and HTPs are not currently regulated by the existing Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms.

“There’s a large legal gap in state management,” he said.

In 2019 and 2020, NGTPs started to become popular in the Vietnamese market due to a lack of legal controls over their proliferation.

“We're pushing for a legal framework to prohibit these products,” Dien said.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!