The Californer - CAPHRA warns push for ASEAN vape ban ignores science

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MANILA, Philippines - Californer -- CAPHRA has warned that efforts by Singapore and the Philippines to promote a regional vape ban through ASEAN would ignore growing evidence on tobacco harm reduction and risk locking the region into failed prohibitionist policy.

The warning follows reports that the health ministers of Singapore and the Philippines agreed during a bilateral meeting at the World Health Assembly to explore joint advocacy for a vape ban among ASEAN member states.

CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas said ASEAN governments should not be pushed into a ban-first approach that disregards relative risk and real-world evidence.

"ASEAN should not ban first and examine the evidence later. You do not reduce smoking by removing lower-risk alternatives while cigarettes remain widely available."

The proposal is particularly troubling because it comes as support grows internationally for more pragmatic tobacco control strategies that distinguish combustible tobacco from lower-risk smoke-free alternatives. Former WHO leaders and senior global health figures have recently argued that tobacco harm reduction should be part of public health policy, especially where smoking-related disease remains high.

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"The call for evidence-based harm reduction is not coming only from consumers," Loucas said. "Respected former global health leaders are also warning that ideology should not override science when lives are at stake."

CAPHRA said Singapore is entitled to maintain its own domestic policy but should not seek to turn that position into a regional standard for all ASEAN countries. The Philippines, where vapour products are legal, should be especially careful about backing a regional prohibition that would override national legislative realities and ignore the experience of Filipino consumers who have already switched away from smoking.

Clarisse Virgino of CAPHRA Philippines said regional policymaking must not become a shortcut for anti-harm-reduction agendas.

"The Philippines should not help build a regional ban that ignores Filipino consumers who have already moved away from cigarettes," Virgino said. "ASEAN governments must make policy based on evidence, health outcomes, and their own national realities, not political signalling dressed up as consensus."

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CAPHRA said it supports strong youth protections, strict product standards, enforcement against illegal sales, and penalties for bad actors, but stressed that prohibition is not the same as effective regulation. Broad bans do not eliminate demand; they shift it into informal and illicit markets, reduce product oversight, and make it harder for adult smokers to access lower-risk alternatives.

"Bans protect the cigarette trade more than they protect public health," Loucas said. "If governments remove regulated alternatives while combustible tobacco remains entrenched, many smokers will simply stay with the products that do the most harm."

CAPHRA is calling on ASEAN governments to reject any rushed regional vape ban and instead pursue risk-proportionate regulation that addresses local issues with local solutions.

https://www.caphraorg.net