Public health NGO the Cambodia Movement for Health (CHM) has expressed its support for a newly issued government order which aims to crack down on the sale and use of heated tobacco products (HTPs) such as vapes.
The NGO reported that as of mid-October, it had recorded at least 688 social media accounts which were promoting or selling e-cigarettes and vapes. They were promoted on Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and Instagram pages.
It also noted that some of these groups and pages were old and had been inactive for a while, but recently resumed activity, while others are newly created.
Mom Kong, CMH executive director, explained in an October 23 press released that he viewed the latest crack down order, signed by Prime Minister Hun Manet on October 21, as a major contribution to building the Kingdom’s human capital, by eliminating the intellectual and physical harm caused by vapes.
He believed the most positive point of the new measures were the direct instructions given to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Information, and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to take measures to prevent the import, distribution, sale, advertising, use, possession, production and storage of all such products.
According to the NGO, the widespread online promotion and sale of these products on social media is the main reasons for their increased use among children and young people in recent years.
“If there were no e-cigarettes in Cambodia, there could be no online sellers, and there would be no victims, most of whom are children and youth,” Kong said.
More than 80 per cent of vape users, the overwhelming majority of them young people, ordered these products through social media, according to a 2024 study by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport.
“The use of e-cigarettes and HTPs severely impacts Cambodia’s human capital. It affects brain development, which in turn impacts the education of children and youth. In addition, it causes severe lung injuries and affects other organs,” said the release.
