Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Health has called for a crackdownon illegal new modern cigarettes advertising and trading via e-commerce andsocial networks.

The ministry recommended the ministries of Public Security, Culture, Sports andTourism and Information and Communications, as well as the General Departmentof Customs strengthen inspections into the products.

Tran Thi Trang, Deputy Director of the Legal Affairs Department, at theMinistry of Health, has said the new cigarettes are products that cannot beadvertised, imported or traded in Vietnam.

“However, there still exists the use of these products as well as illegaltrading, advertising in the country,” she said at a seminar on August 10 hosted bythe Ministry of Health. “And this is an alarming problem.”

Besides traditional cigarettes, new cigarettes have appeared, includinge-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and shisha.

The seminar alarmed about illegal advertising and trafficking of e-cigarettes,heated tobacco products and shisha.

E-cigarettes have been sold and advertised on social networks, attracting youngpeople, experts warned at the seminar.

According to experts, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products have mainly beenbrought into Vietnam by tourists or smugglers.

The Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department at the General Department ofCustoms has seized large quantities of smuggled e-cigarettes and heated tobaccoproducts.

Vietnam’s Law on Tobacco Harms Prevention and Control which came into practicein 2013 stipulated advertising, trading, and transporting tobacco materials,smuggled cigarettes were not allowed.

However, in recent years, new tobacco products have been traded and advertisedillegally, according to Trang.

Due to the negative effects of e-cigarettes and shisha, particularly on youngpeople, the Ministry of Health is working with the Ministry of Industry andTrade to propose the Government and the National Assembly to ban the use andimport of e-cigarettes and shisha into Vietnam.

The number of Vietnamese people smoking in public and areas with smoking bansremains high. Authorities and schools should continue to spread information toraise public awareness of the harmful effects of smoking, experts said.

The seminar also revealed that e-cigarettes had been sold at exhibitions ortrade fairs in public places, even near schools.

Hoang Thi Thu Huong, an expert from the Legal Affairs Department, said thetobacco industry was using many tricks to promote the new cigarettes.

Huong said tobacco companies used online influencers and hashtags on popularsocial media sites like Facebook and TikTok to advertise products and attractyoung customers.

They also advertised e-cigarettes at sporting and music events by printingtobacco products on hats, clothes and bags to be used as gifts for attendees.

“Cheap prices and the curiosity and tastes of a group of young people hasturned Vietnam into one of the markets for the smuggling of new modern tobaccoproducts,” she said.

“This may cause harm to people’s health, the economy, social order and securityand the future generations of Vietnam.”

Measures should also be taken to prevent promotion, sponsorship andadvertisement programmes relating to cigarettes, according to Huong.

A school-age health survey in 2019 showed that up to 2.6 percent of studentsaged 13-17 used e-cigarettes.

According to Nguyen Tuan Lam, from the World Health Organisation in Vietnam,e-cigarettes and shisha have the same harmful effects on people’s health astraditional tobacco. They could cause cancer, including lung cancer, andrespiratory-related diseases.

Forty-two countries have banned e-cigarettes, 56 countries allow e-cigarettesbut have imposed strict regulations on trading and 30 countries have set alimitation for the amount of nicotine or other chemicals in e-cigarettes./.