Regulators in the Asia-Pacific region certainly are presented with a great opportunity to support smoke-free products, but will they recognize and grab it? While smoke-free products are currently legally available in Japan and Korea, many other Asian countries are either enforcing outright bans or are bogging themselves down with outdated regulations or philosophical opposition.
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Even Australia appears to be reluctant to realize the fact that the world is no longer revolving around combustibles only that need to be heavily regulated, and that the emergence of next-generation products that really could have a very positive impact is actually a development that should be welcomed:
• Singapore prohibits any tobacco or nicotine-containing products other than combustible cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco.
• Thailand banned e-cigarettes completely (with violators threatened with hefty fines and even unreasonably lengthy prison terms), and that curiously includes any product that “resembles” a cigarette but does not burn tobacco, e.g. tobacco heating devices.
• In Hong Kong, e-cigarettes containing nicotine are banned and the status of heat-not-burn devices is ambiguous at best.
• In other Asian countries, for example, the Philippines and Malaysia, the status is uncertain or there is even conflict within the government about how to handle the advent of next-generation products.
• Australia prohibits any nicotine-containing consumer product other than those “prepared and packed for smoking.” However, there have been a number of public consultations into smoke-free products and this has spurned a debate not previously seen in the country, with many health professionals having been vocal about the role smoke-free products can play in tobacco harm reduction.
• New Zealand still upholds a 27-year-old law that prohibits chewing tobacco and other tobacco “for oral use other than smoking.” While the country’s previous government has committed to legalizing and regulating the sale of e-cigarettes and planned to pass legislation this year, it is so far uncertain whether the new administration is going to follow through on this commitment.