The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to pilot a new generation of cigarettes with a limited period
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, although there is no specific management mechanism and not yet allowed for circulation, e-cigarette and heated tobacco products have been present in many places on the market for a long time. Consumers in Vietnam can easily access new generation cigarette products of unknown origin on the market.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that researching and issuing policies to manage new generation cigarette products is necessary to promptly meet practical requirements. The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to allow the pilot import and circulation of heated tobacco products as a tobacco product for 2 years. As for e-cigarettes, the Ministry of Industry and Trade recommends continuing to research and carefully evaluate scientific evidence related to the safety of e-cigarette solutions.
Consulting the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Justice - the agency responsible for legal aspects, gave opinions in support of the management of new-generation cigarettes, saying: "Currently, WHO has officially recognized heated tobacco as tobacco, so the next thing to do is to apply the current tobacco control law to this product as appropriate".
In addition, the Ministry of Planning and Investment believes that e-cigarettes have a direct impact on consumer health, some countries in the world ban the use of this product, currently the State does not have specific management policies to control, limit, protect consumer health and tax losses, it is necessary to develop legal documents to manage this product.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and Technology proposed to consider developing regulations on management and pilot policies for e-cigarettes as a basis for completing legal documents on e-cigarette management in Vietnam.
Some agencies under the Government have also contributed many multi-dimensional opinions to support the process of planning policies for the management of new-generation cigarettes. In particular, there are still some concerns that health-harmful products such as new-generation cigarettes should not be allowed.
The Ministry of Health affirms that it is not yet capable of piloting
With a consistent viewpoint of protecting people's health above economic benefits, since 2020, the Ministry of Health has repeatedly sent official dispatches requesting the Prime Minister to completely ban e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Based on scientific evidence that these products are harmful to health; the long-term risks and harms are not yet recognized.
Ms. Tran Thi Trang, Deputy Director of the Legal Department (Ministry of Health) said that after 10 years of implementing the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention, the rate of tobacco use among men has decreased by 5% but is still high. Vietnam is still in the group of 15 countries with the highest tobacco use rate in the world.
The rate of e-cigarette smoking in our country is not high but has begun to increase among young people while Vietnam has not yet allowed the sale of this product. According to Ms. Trang, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are being traded illegally, but the rate of use has tended to increase. If business is allowed, there will be a risk of a sharp increase, attracting more young people and creating a new generation of nicotine addicts.
Ms. Trang also added that the health sector is "backing" in preventing non-communicable diseases. If the pilot is allowed, it will lead to serious consequences as well as many legal problems. Specifically, there is not enough data to assess policy impacts, especially health and social harms, disease burden, consequences for young people and costs, social impacts.
The pilot proposal is only approached from a business perspective, not thoroughly studied from the perspective of protecting people's health and society, which is not comprehensive. Piloting an addictive product but there is no solution to solve the health consequences, society and consequences after the end of the pilot.
The Ministry of Health also said that Vietnam is not currently qualified to ensure the development and implementation of a new tobacco pilot policy because new cigarettes contain many chemical ingredients, additives and flavors that are harmful to health, and even countries with advanced science and technology are not qualified to analyze and test.
According to the Ministry of Health, if the new generation cigarette pilot is allowed, ministries will have to develop and promulgate a series of mechanisms and regulations for the pilot, including business management, licensing, developing standards, product standards, health warnings, etc.
Vietnam's technical capacity and human resources for management are still thin and limited to testing and testing products. Therefore, if the pilot is implemented, a huge resource will be needed to build and purchase testing equipment and train staff to be able to monitor the required targets.
