Current Issue in Malaysia - Vape

In the world of rapid development of technology, our daily life is revolved around gadgets from the start of the day to the minutes before going to bed. Thus, I like to discuss about one device that have become one of the current issues in Malaysia and that is vape or also known as e-cigarette. This is because the rate of vape users escalated for the past few years and everybody at their right minds knows that anything that relates with cigarettes bring bad effects to the users and the people around them. Initially, the invention of vape is to help the heavy smokers to lessen their smoking habit and eventually quit smoking.  But problem arises when people start to misunderstand about the use of vape and use it to follow the current trends. By definition, vaping is an activity of inhaling and exhaling the vapor that actually is aerosol from the heated liquid in the device that known as mod. Mod usually comes in many shapes and sizes that consists of mouthpiece, cartridge that contain e-liquid, heat element and power supply. The cost of purchasing a mod in the market usually start from RM 70 to hundreds ringgit while the e-liquid cost around RM 20 per bottle.

According to the Star Malaysia written by Hafidz Baharom, the surveys of tobacco and e-cigarette among the Malaysian community especially adolescent in 2016, a statistic of 11.7 % of Malaysian youth are consuming this dangerous product. This is because many of them said that vape is better than smoking in terms of the amount of tobacco used in vape, the vape yearly expenses are cheaper than cigarettes and the users can experience different types of liquid flavors from fruits to dessert to beverages flavors. From live science and expert e-cigarettes website, the author states that vape may not make the users do not have bad breath, cigarette burns and less of cancers risks. However little that they know, vape also bring negative effect with them. The bad impact not only involving the users’ health but also to the society and the environment. Since vape have become popular for the past few years, all scientists and researchers have gained many information about the effect of vape.

First of all, let’s look at vape device alone. We all are aware that the device has a heating element that is powered by electricity that commonly came from batteries. Based on the BBC News website, when the battery is over charged or using the wrong charger it can causes the explosion of mod. This is because when the over charged battery is turned on, it will directly heat the heating element with excessive power and when it exceeds the limit temperature, the battery will produce a flammable electrolyte that ignite and eventually explode. The explosion of mod can be severe as it causes burns, fire and even fatal. There was a case that gone viral in Gopeng, Malaysia when a man was reported to have six stitches on his lips after his vape device exploded before he was able to inhale it. The doctor that took care of him stated that if he took a puff from that mouthpiece, he probably got shot in the mouth and died. There is another case back in 2014, where a Bintulu man got killed after his battery of e-cigarette exploded and the force of explosion had struck his chest making him collapse and dead on the scene before the paramedic arrived. From these accidents, we can see how dangerous it is to use vape device even if it received license of safety from the authority organization.

Next is about the e-liquid. This type of liquid is said to contain different kinds of chemical such as nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerin and flavorings. Every substance that in the liquid is very dangerous. Although nicotine levels are said to be vary depending on the brands, it can make the users getting the high concentration of nicotine level to feel the same satisfaction as the conventional cigarette gave them. The overdose of nicotine intake in every inhalation can slowly damage the users’ body. This is because based on the expert view e-cigarette website, nicotine as been linked to damage the nervous, respiration and cardiovascular system. If a pregnant woman had inhaled it directly from the device or the vapor from the surrounding, the aerosol will disturb and harm the development of fetal that causes the babies born with health problems. The exposure of the vapor to the growing adolescents can be very dangerous as it irritates the eyes and causes them to have respiratory problems due to the airway inflammation. The toxicity in the liquid can slowly killed a person without their realization.

Speaking about adolescent, there are many bad influences of vape to them other than health. Youngsters in Malaysia tend to follow what the adults and the trends had to say about the usage of vape. To them, for someone that able to use vape is considered as the most up-to-date person. Therefore, many of them started to involve with vape for the past few months. However, there are problems when adolescents start to have addiction on vape as the liquid contain nicotine and have the mindset that vape is not as dangerous as conventional cigarettes. Recently, studies have found that one third of middle school students have encountered vape and secretly bring the device and use it in school since the device came with different shape and sizes like pens and flash drives. As they are being introduced to these dangerous products, the possibility of them getting involved with cigarettes and drugs are really high. This is because they will start to challenge their friends to take a higher nicotine level of e-liquid and they eventually will consume high nicotine concentration but still feel that it is not enough to fulfill their satisfaction. The problem worsens as the e-liquid brewers put a certain amount of drug such as marijuana and heroin into the liquid and sells it to the adolescents. Not only they become addicted to nicotine and drug but also, they are damaging their developing body especially their brains due to the body need vape to be able to function for the day just like cigarettes do to the smokers.

Therefore, powerful and effective action must be taken in order to fix this problem in Malaysia. The government can initialize it by banning all unregistered vape business and install a tight procedure before the owner get the business license. This is to ensure that the company provide safe vape device especially the mod and set a low dosage of nicotine in the e-liquid with the range from 0 mg/ml to 12 mg/ml only. With this action, the government can supervise all of the vape premises to make sure that they are obeying the rule. Next, the government should set age limit that can use vape which at 20 years old and above. Strict action must be taken to the person or organization that sell vapes to the underage students and to the company that sells e-liquid that contain nicotine dose that exceeds the limits. Another way to reduce the vape culture in Malaysia is by setting a high price to the vape device and e-liquid. This action is to make the vape users to think many times before purchasing this dangerous product thus hopefully that it could help them stop this unhealthy habit.

Society also play an important role in shaping the new generations. If the society does not be considerate towards the younger generations and take vape issues lightly, the possibility for the future generations to live in unhealthy lifestyle is really high. Thus, the society should be helping each other out by limiting vape or smoking activities in the public. With this the young generation will not get the impression that the vape and cigarettes are cool and makes they do not want to try it. Next more community activities like sports and talk should be organize to create healthy and happy community. Not to forget that these activities is to increase awareness and knowledge among the community in Malaysia about the negative impact of vape and conventional cigarettes. However, all the effort will go to waste if there is no togetherness and care for each other in the society as each person in the society only care about themselves. Thus, the society themselves need to change their mindset for the good of the country and the young generations.

Last but not the least, family should be a good example to their children. This is because children usually copy all the parents’ action and behaviors at home and at the public. Therefore, parents should stop smoking in front of the children and they need to gain knowledge about how dangerous it is when their children are involved with vape. Other than that, the parents should be strict and give punishment to their children that start vaping behind their back. With the help from the family, the rate of underage vape user in Malaysia can be control and reduced to zero.

In conclusion, vape and smoking habits has become a serious issue in Malaysia. This can be observed from the escalating statistic of vape and cigarettes user in Malaysia for the past few years. Therefore, everyone has to play their role to prevent this matter from getting out of hand. Just like the proverbs that said, “prevention is better than cure”. Hopefully with the action taken, we can reduce the usage of vape in the society especially among the young generations and generate healthy and zero addiction future leader.

REFFERECE.

https://www.centeronaddiction.org/e-cigarettes/recreational-vaping

https://www.livescience.com/54754-what-e-cigarettes-do-in-your-body.html

http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/10/06/e-cigarette-explodes-killing-smoker/

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44161348

https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/teen-vaping/

https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-star-malaysia/20170909/281934543103956

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2015/06/28/vaping-teens/

https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/322195