Nowadays, the usage of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) has increase

exponentially since year 2014. E-cigarette is actually invented by a Chinese

pharmacist named Hon Lik in year 2003. E-cigarette is defined as an electronic

device that vaporizes a liquid with certain flavor, where the produced vapor is then

inhaled by the user. There is a refillable tab inside the e-cigarette, enable users

to replace a new liquid tab when the flavored liquid is used up. Most of the

people claim that e-cigarette is a good invention that helps smokers to quit

smoking, while some others think that e-cigarette is just another form of cigarette

that encourage smoking and cause addiction. There are much arguments about the

legislation of e-cigarette wordwide. A recent discussion among a group of UTM

student focusing on the topic electronic cigarette will be highlighted in my respond

paper, started with their opinions about e-cigarette, followed by debating whether e-

cigarette should be banned or not. Other than that, they also covered some

effective ways to educate and create awareness to the public about bad effects of

e-cigarette.

WHO (World Health Organization) has advised public to stay away from e-

cigarette because its long term effects on human health is uncertain. According to

the discussion team, WHO agency is a specialized organization of United Nation

that is concerned with international public health. WHO agency will produce the

World Health Report annually after conducting a series of systematic surveys and

researches. WHO agency is definitely a trustable source since it is joined by 147

countries and cooperates with around 480 non-governmental organizations. So, the
advices of WHO agency should be taken seriously by the public and society. The

youngsters nowadays tend to follow the trend of using e-cigarette. This is definitely

a serious issue since it can cause several health problems if e-cigarette is used

excessively. Although e-cigarette contain less tar and carcinogenic substances

compared to cigarette, the amount is still enough to cause severe diseases or even

cancer. Surveys from internet show that e-cigarette contain small amount of tar, but

it is still sufficient to result in addiction. Some users even switch from e-cigarette to

cigarette since they need more and more nicotine to satisfy their increasing needs.

E-cigarette also produce large amount of vapor which contain some nicotine and

chemical that can cause air pollution. E-cigarette is also producing smoke that can

endanger the people around, especially youngsters and pregnant women. If a

pregnant women using e-cigarette or inhaling excessive second hand smoke, will

result in low birth weight baby or baby born too early which making the baby

become weaker. Next, since e-cigarette is cheaper than cigarette, it becomes more

accessible to the youngster, which mean it is actually encouraging youngster to use

e-cigarette. Another fact is e-cigarette comes along with a wide variety of flavors,

becomes another factor to attract youngsters to start vaping. There are even some

illegal parties trying to promote the usage of e-cigarette by selling the device at

cheaper price through social media. So far, the discussion group agrees with WHO

agency’s advice where public should minimize and prevent the usage of e-cigarette.

The discussion is continued by comparing e-cigarette and traditional cigarette.

They claim that E- cigarette is totally different from the traditional cigarette. Normal
cigarette uses combustion to convert solid nicotine to smoke which contains a large

amount of harmful substance especially nicotine and carcinogenic substances. On the

other hand, e-cigarette uses battery voltage to vaporize the flavored liquid nicotine

into water vapor which contains less harmful substances compared to cigarette. So,

if comparing the harmfulness of byproducts, e-cigarette will be the winner since it

contains fewer amounts of nicotine and carcinogenic substances. However, e-cigarette

is neither healthy nor safe for anyone. In term of cost, e-cigarette is cheaper for

long term consideration. The e-cigarette device is one-time-buying device and its

refillable tab is cheap and long-lasting. According to some surveys conducted

smokers able to save up to RM 150-200 per week since switching from traditional

cigarette to e-cigarette.

So, the discussion team proposed that the e-cigarette is actually better

compared to the traditional cigarette according to several evidences. The University

of California found that e-cigarette is two over three less dangerous than cigarette.

A researcher named Thomas proved that e-cigarette produce water vapour instead

of smoke, the vapour contain fewer amount of tar, carcinogenic substance and

carbon monoxide, where those substances are less harmful comparing to the

traditional cigarette. Another researcher said that e-cigarette is not burning type,

where it uses the voltage to convert liquid nicotine into water vapour. The produced

water vapour is less harmful for the people around. According to another recent

survey, traditional cigarette is actually producing 1.7 billion pound of cigarette butt

trash annually. The more important point is the cigarette butts are non-biodegradable
and will become permanent trashes if not handling properly. Every single day, 1.5

million trees are cut down to produce traditional cigarette. So, e-cigarette produces

less waste and is more environmental friendly.

As mentioned above, e-cigarette is absolutely better than traditional cigarette.

E-cigarette also helps smokers to quit smoking. It is impossible for a smoker to

stop smoking suddenly as his body will react abnormally, for example extremely

craving for nicotine, headache, anxiety, depression, unable to concentrate and

insomnia. This could probably become a huge obstacle for him/her to live a healthy

and normal life. So, here is where e-cigarette should be introduced to help a

smoker to quit smoking in a systematic schedule. The smoker can start by finishing

up a refill tab in 2days, and then slowly and slowly reduce the intake. Then

smokers will find that a refillable tab can last for 1 week, 2 weeks and so on.

Finally the smoker can stop smoking as his need for nicotine has been reduced

exponentially. From an interview, an ex-smoker claimed that the e-cigarette provides

him the emotional healing throughout the period he tried to stop smoking, he also

emphasised that e-cigarette is definitely an effective medicine for those who wish to

quit smoking.

From the evidences above, the discussion team thinks that it is not rational

to ban e-cigarette. They also make a good statement which is “cigarette should be

banned, not e-cigarette”. I couldn’t agree more because e-cigarette is better than

traditional cigarette in term of health, pollution and cost. The discussion team came
out with another idea, which is to have higher restriction and tighter regulation on

e-cigarette instead of banning it. The main reason to do so is to prevent non-

smokers from start using e-cigarette. One of the most effective ways is by

increasing the taxes of the e-cigarette devices and its refills. This will make the

cost to increase and harder for youngsters to afford e-cigarette. Government should

set the minimum age of 18 to buy and use e-cigarette. Those who disobey will be

fined and punished. Government should also restrict the selling of e-cigarette by

giving license to certain authorized centres only. This can ensure that all authorised

centres selling good quality of vaping devices. SIRIM system should be applied to

those authorised centres selling e-cigarette to prevent the selling of low quality or

unsafe devices. On the other hand, smokers shall buy only those certified devices

for their own health purposes.

In order to educate the public about the negative effects of e-cigarette,

government must work hand in hand with educational authorities, together they can

organize campaign, talks and exhibitions to create awareness on students and

public. Those who successfully quit smoking shall be invited to give talks as they

are experienced and able to share more practical ways to quit smoking. While for

parents, they play an important role in early age to educate children so as to

realise that using e-cigarette is an unhealthy life style. Parents must also be the

role model by stay away from e-cigarette. There is also some ways to make the

public aware on the seriousness of the e-cigarette problems. Health organizations

should cooperate with WHO to do more deep researches on disadvantages of

vaping and the results of the research should be channelled to the public though

effective ways such as social media, educational text book and advertisement.

In the nut shell, the discussion team concluded that e-cigarette should not be

banned because it is comparatively better than traditional cigarette. Instead,

government should apply higher restriction and tighter regulation on e-cigarette to

reduce the usage of e-cigarette. The e-cigarette should only be used by smokers in

the process of stop smoking. Non-smokers are advised to stay away and prevent

any usage of e-cigarette.