Kathmandu – The government has started the process of banning electronic cigarettes (VeP). The National Center for Health Education, Information and Communication under the Department of Health Services has requested various ministries to assist in the process of imposing restrictions.
The director of the center, Keshavraj Pandit, has asked the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, the Department of Customs and the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection to assist in the implementation of the provision to ban the use of electronic cigarettes.
As there is a provision in subsection 4 of Section 28 of the Tobacco Control and Regulation Directive 2071, ‘no one shall be allowed to manufacture, import, sell, distribute, consume in public places and public transport, and promote and advertise through the media’, so he has been sent a letter to implement the same. There is a saying.
Center’s senior health education administrator Dr. Bhakta Bahadur KC said that with the implementation of the guidelines by the Ministry of Finance and Communications, electronic cigarettes will be banned from Nepal. He said that some people use e-cigarettes to quit smoking, as e-cigarettes are as harmful to health as cigarettes.
“Using e-cigarettes teaches you to smoke cigarettes. It acts as a nicotine addiction,” he said, “so electronic cigarettes are a gateway to tobacco use.”
He says that e-cigarettes directly affect the heart and lungs of people and cause problems such as burning the mouth and also harm other people who are sitting with the person who is consuming it.
Electronic cigarettes come in different flavors in Nepal. It comes in flavors like blackberry, blueberry, melon, pineapple, gava, mango.
According to the data of the Customs Department, 32 lakh 23 thousand 687 devices of electronic cigarettes came to Nepal in the last fiscal year. Out of them, 31 lakh 75 thousand 815 of those electronic cigarettes come only from China.
Similarly, 265,640 came from the US and 12,967 from the UAE. Electronic cigarettes are also coming from India, UK and other countries. Senior health education administrator of the center. According to KC, there is a trade of electronic cigarettes worth 32 billion in Nepal annually.
He said that imports have increased by 200 times in the last five years. An electronic cigarette costs Rs 10,000 to 13,000.