Fate of vaping to be decided by month-end

By Xavier Kong

Hamzah Zainuddin

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Hamzah Zainuddin has declared that the cabinet will decide on whether or not vaping will be banned by the end of the month.

It was also declared by the minister that the decision would cover what mods an e-cigarette would be allowed to have.

“We will get a standard decision on what (vape) mods can be used. There’s a possibility that we will prohibit devices that produce vapour containing nicotine as that could cause illnesses,” said Hamzah, noting that the decision on mod choices will come following discussions on the matter.

“We have obtained the research results from other countries and not only limited our research to our country, so we will let the cabinet decide,” he said.

This comes after there have been conflicting moves by several states, which have issued bans on vaping following the fatwa or edict from the National Fatwa Council which had declared vaping haram.

The first statewide ban came by the order of the Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, who had ordered in December last year for all stores selling vape products to be closed down by Jan 1, 2016.