Myanmar has banned the sale, import and possession of vaping products. The prohibition was announced Feb. 20 by the Ministry of Health, which received authorization from the cabinet two days earlier.
The ban will be enforced under Myanmar’s Essential Supplies and Services Law, according to the Xinhua news agency. The law gives the government sweeping powers to prohibit products that threaten public health and welfare.
The law prohibits “importation, exportation, sale, possession, storage, carrying, distribution, use and consumption” of e-cigarettes, vape accessories, and electronic shisha products.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has had no specific law regarding vapes until now, although the military-controlled government has sometimes seized shipments of vapes entering the country.
The new law is predicated on growing youth use, according to Department of Public Health official Kyaw Kan Kaung, who also claimed that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as combustible cigarettes.
The adult smoking rate in Myanmar is 12.3 percent, according to the Tobacco Atlas. But that number is deceiving, because very few women smoke. Among male residents over age 15, the smoking rate is 23.4 percent. Myanmar’s smoking rate among boys ages 10-14 was 14.29 percent as of 2023.
Cigarettes will, of course, remain legal.
Of the 11 countries that make up the Southeast Asian region, only Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines do not currently have some form of vape ban. And Malaysia announced last fall it will reverse its liberalization of vaping laws and reimpose a ban soon.
Brunei and East Timor prohibit the sale of vapes, but do not punish individuals for possession or use.
Myanmar, however, will join the Southeast Asian countries with the harshest laws, banning not just the sale of vapes, but also personal possession and use. Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam also have such laws.
Myanmar’s western neighbors India and Bangladesh have also banned e-cigarettes.
Because of declining cigarette sales, state governments in the U.S. and countries around the world are looking to vapor products as a new source of tax revenue.
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