Doctors and jurists have warned of the dangers of teenagers and young people smoking electronic cigarettes (vaping), and have called for intensifying oversight of grocery stores that sell them, and taking the necessary measures to limit their sale to those under the legal age.
They confirmed that the components of these cigarettes are a poison that threatens health, especially as they may cause significant damage to the brain and rupture of the lung.
“Emirates Today” monitored stores selling electronic cigarettes to teenagers and young people in various grocery stores and outlets, and when asking some of them about how they sell these products to teenagers, they said that it is difficult for them to ascertain the age of the buyer, while some of them claim that they buy them for their families. Shop owners said that they usually order tobacco and e-cigarette products via home delivery service, which makes it difficult for them to verify the identity of their users. Parents said that their suffering with their children lies in how they obtain tobacco products, especially vaping products, as they are surprised that they own them. When asked, it turns out that they obtained it from grocery stores in back or side streets, and some of them also obtained it through sellers on social media. They called for the need to intensify oversight of outlets selling these products, which have become widespread among young people, especially school and university students.
Ahmed Youssef, the guardian of a high school student, said that he discovered a “Vap” hidden in his son’s wardrobe, and when he confronted him about it, the son admitted that he had bought it from a grocery store on a side street, and the seller did not ask him about his age or refuse to sell to him.
The same thing was confirmed by the mother of a student in the first year of secondary school, when she discovered that he and his friends were buying vapes, paying their value, estimated at 20 or 25 dirhams, and then taking turns smoking them together.
Mona Abed, the mother of a high school student, called for tightening control over small grocery stores that allow the sale of electronic cigarettes and do not take into account the ages of children, with the aim of making profit at the expense of children’s health.
Dr. Muhammad Al-Hoqqani, a consultant chest disease consultant and associate professor at the UAE University, confirmed that electronic cigarettes are marketed as one of the safer alternatives to traditional smoking, and that they are an aid to quitting it. “However, studies have proven that whoever starts using this type of cigarette, continues to smoke.” “It is used in various types to obtain nicotine, which causes addiction.” He pointed out that there are harmful effects resulting from electronic smoking, including the occurrence of fibrosis in lung cells. In turn, consultant chest diseases, Dr. Bassam Mahboub, stressed the need to tighten penalties on every merchant who sells or facilitates the sale of e-cigarettes to teenagers and children, especially after studies have proven that they may cause death in young people, and he called for prohibiting the sale of these products at all to those under the age of 21 years. He stated that “many young people who use electronic smoking methods visit clinics due to symptoms such as recurring colds and chest infections.”
Flavors
He stressed that “flavored cigarettes contain chemicals that medical reports have proven to be very harmful, to the point that they may rupture lung membranes, and there are reports of young people suffering from lung failure because of them, as well as deaths.”
Dr. Vijay Nair, a lung disease specialist at Al Tadawi Specialist Hospital in Dubai, confirmed that the ease of availability of electronic cigarettes in general and their sale in different flavors, mixed with nicotine, increases their victims on a daily basis, especially young university and school students, pointing out that nicotine addiction includes several risks, the most important of which is infection. It causes atrophy in brain cells and hinders their growth. It may also cause health risks in the mouth, trachea, and lungs, as well as brain and heart clots, and various problems in the body. He called for tightening control over outlets that sell smoking products to young people, to limit the spread of this phenomenon among teenagers, and controlling violating shops to protect young people and adolescents from falling prey to these products.
specifications
For his part, lawyer and legal advisor Mohammed Al-Najjar said that the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology has prepared a mandatory standard specification for all electronic smoking products that are an alternative to regular tobacco to limit smoking in general and this type in particular, such as electronic cigarettes or electronic shisha and supply containers designated for refilling them. Such as e-liquid containers, it also includes products that use manufactured tobacco, which is placed in an electronic device that heats the tobacco roll and smokes it using the device without the tobacco combustion occurring. Al-Najjar confirmed that the UAE government had previously announced that electronic smoking products are subject to Federal Law No. 15 of 2009 regarding tobacco control, which prohibits advertising or promoting any tobacco products. The same law also prohibits selling or attempting to sell tobacco or its products to those who do not. He is over 18 years old. Al-Najjar pointed out that the Tobacco Control Law stipulates a fine of 500 dirhams for reconciliation in this violation, and if reconciliation is not possible, the incident is referred to criminal prosecution, and the penalty is a fine of not less than 3,000 dirhams and not more than 10,000.
Law
For his part, the legal advisor, Dr. Alaa Nasr, confirmed that Federal Law No. 3 of 2016 regarding children’s rights, known as the “Wadeema” Law, prohibits the sale of tobacco or its products to children, and smoking in public and private transportation and closed places if a child is present, even if this place is Licensed to smoke, one should not smoke if one notices the presence of a child by mistake in this place, indicating that Article 20 of the law obliges the competent authorities and concerned authorities in the state to play a constructive and effective role in raising awareness in the field of prevention and health guidance, especially with regard to the areas of child health and the harmful effects of Smoking. Nasr stressed that selling smoking products in all their forms to children is a crime that represents a danger to the child, his health and his life, pointing out that the penalty starts from a fine of 5,000 dirhams to 15,000 dirhams and reaches imprisonment for a period of no less than six months.
• Children buy cigarettes through home delivery services.
2023-09-28 22:05:48
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