The National Tobacco Products Control Committee has upheld the country’s ban on e-cigarettes meaning the import and sale of the products is prohibited, reports The Nation Thailand.

Members of the committee said that Thailand should maintain the ban in order to protect children, adolescents and non-smoking adults from health problems. “The ban will also help protect non-smokers from health hazards caused by e-cigarettes and other tobacco-related products,” said Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit who chaired the meeting. Wongrajit said that e-cigarettes could prove as a steppingstone to using traditional cigarettes and pointed out that studies have shown that e-cigarettes do not help to quit smoking.
According to The Nation Thailand, the committee will put its decision to the Cabinet and urge the relevant agencies to enforce the law on tobacco control.
Despite the ban on e-cigarettes, they are still popular in Thailand with the chief of the Department of Disease Control and the committee’s secretary-general Opas Karnkawinpong pointing out: “In 2021, 78,742 Thais were caught smoking e-cigarettes. Almost a third of these, or 24,050, were youngsters aged between 15and 24.”