KINIBIZ When Tiger heard that the Health Ministry is looking to ban vaping, Tiger did not know whether to feel disgusted, or disappointed. Actually, Tiger thinks it is actually a mixture of both.

However, what looms the most in Tiger’s mind at the mention of the ban can be summed up in one question: what is the Health Ministry thinking?

From what Tiger has seen and read on the stance of the Health Ministry, the potential ban on vaping seems to stem from a concern about the health of Malaysians.

Well, Tiger would like to also point out that the Health Ministry has not said anything about cigarettes, which actually have been proven to be harmful to human beings.

Apparently, the move to ban vaping is a preemptive measure, taken “before vaping becomes a major issue”. Well, in Tiger’s opinion, what they are doing now is very much like closing the barn door after a tiger’s gone in, eaten the prize cow, and left.

With vaping now already considered an upcoming subculture of Malaysia, with a global industry value of about US$6 billion (RM26 billion) by the end of 2014 and still seeing growth, Tiger is of the opinion that the reason given by the Health Ministry, that a potential ban on vaping would be a preemptive move before it becomes a major issue, just does not makes sense.

On the other hand, the ministry’s reasoning that vaping is more harmful than cigarettes does not really fly, either. While the ministry cited internal studies, the vaping community, through the Malaysian Organisation of Vape Entity, cited a Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos, a cardiologist who is also a researcher on vape safety, who stated that vaping is actually 95 percent healthier than smoking cigarettes.

For the full story go to KINIBIZ .

This article was written by Xavier Kong.