Amendments to Taiwan’s ‘Tobacco Hazard Prevention Act’ banning vaping products and restricting heated tobacco, will have a negative impact on public health.

The amended Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法), has been approved and bans the sale, manufacture, and supply of vaping products. Moreover, the measure raises the legal smoking age from 18 to 20, and the proportion of tobacco warnings would increase from 35% to 50% of cigarette packs.

Heated tobacco products (HTPs) would be subject to tighter regulations and advertising them would be banned. While manufacturers or importers of HTPs will have to submit a health risk evaluation report for review before they can receive a permit to sell them. Anyone caught violating this may be faced with a hefty penalty of NT$50 million.

This ban is a public health catastrophe

In a recent release, Director of the Alianza Mundial de Vapeadores, Michael Landl, said that this ban is a public health catastrophe in the making.

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