No new buyers of vape units were recorded last
week, says Malaysian E-Vaporizers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta).
PETALING
JAYA: The nation’s vaping industry has hit a low point with no new first-time
buyers recorded last week.
Last
October, there were 800,000 vapers but this dropped to 200,000 earlier this
month in what is believed to be the result of the Health Ministry’s efforts to
educate the public on the ills of the habit, reported The Malay Mail.
Malaysian
E-Vaporizers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta) founder and adviser
Allan Foo said the reduced adoption of vaping by Malaysians could be due to it
being just a passing trend.
“There
were literally no first-time buyers from last week, with sales of vape liquids
dropping by at least 90 per cent since the beginning of the year,” he said.
The only
ones buying new devices were dedicated users, he said adding that the
association recorded a peak of sales between August and October last year, with
sales declining from November onwards.
Foo said
at the peak of the vaping rage, up to 20,000 units were sold but this has now
dropped to only about 500 units since March.
“A vape
shop could make between RM1,000 and RM2,000 in daily profits before but can
only average RM200 now.”
The
association also estimates that the number of vape retail outlets nationwide
has reduced from 1,500 to less than 700.
Foo
believes that the Health Ministry’s efforts to discourage vaping has been
successful, leaving the public with a phobia that e-cigarettes were more
harmful than tobacco.
On the
sale of vape liquids with nicotine by some vape outlets, Foo maintains that
Mevta does not encourage such activity.
Public
Health deputy director-general of public health Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman
welcomed the drop in the number of vapers as it would show “that the public
sees it as something that is harmful”.
He said
anything that is detrimental to health is not good and should be avoided.
FMT
Reporters
No comments:
Post a Comment