DHAKA, Jan 2, 2024 (BSS) - Hamidur Rahman (pseudo name), a 17-year old college student, finds himself drawn to e-cigarettes as he sees the fascinating advertisements in Facebook and various online platforms.

Eventually, he buys an e-cigarette from a shop under the influence of a friend.

Hamidur said that many adolescents like him have been using e-cigarettes as a fashion these days.

The rising trend of using e-cigarettes among adolescents in Bangladesh is increasing at an alarming rate.

Due to lack of necessary initiatives or measures to control or stop this trend, the use of these products has increased extensively on roadsides, campuses, hangouts and at vaping clubs of young people. Moreover, e-cigarettes have become easily accessible and are gaining popularity on Facebook and other online platforms, largely due to the manipulative tactics and strategies employed by marketers.

Health experts are saying that young people are starting to smoke with e-cigarettes nowadays. Despite being equally harmful as cigarettes, many are using e-cigarettes as a hobby due to the variety of flavors and attractive designs.

A World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2021 stated that there are about 16,000 unique flavors of emerging tobacco products available in the markets.

The use of these products in several countries including Europe and America has taken a terrible turn. A study conducted in America showed that the use of e-cigarettes among school-aged adolescents increased 78pc in 2018 compared to 2017, within just one-year timeframe. Eighty-five percent of the school students use flavored e-cigarettes solely for their enticing flavors and tastes.

Acclaimed medicine specialist, Emeritus Professor and personal physician of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Dr ABM Abdullah said, "Similar to cigarettes, e-cigarettes also pose significant health risks. These products contain liquid nicotine and are mostly used by the youth. Many countries have banned e-cigarettes through legislation to safeguard public health."

Young people are being encouraged to use e-cigarettes and vape particularly through Facebook. Many Facebook pages including Vaping Cloud and Vaper World are growing vigorously by providing live and positive reviews of these vaping products. Many have opened websites just to sell e-cigarettes.

Hossain Ali Khondakar, Additional Secretary of the Health Services Division and Coordinator of the National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), said in a recently held event that the health ministry believes that e-cigarettes and vaping are as harmful to health as cigarettes.

Therefore, a complete ban on the manufacture, import and sale of e-cigarettes has been proposed in the draft amendment act. The draft amendment to the law has already gone through various stages and is currently awaiting final approval in the Cabinet meeting."

Public health experts say that to protect public health, the WHO has recently urged governments to take urgent actions to control the use of e-cigarettes.

A total of 32 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Singapore, have already banned the sale of these products, while many other countries are actively working to achieve the same goal.