The Pakistan Young Scientists and Innovators Council has urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a letter from President Chaudhry Muhammad Haseeb Usman, General Secretary Annan Usman and Vice President Rania Riffat, to order stronger measures to regulate the import, sale and use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products.
They cited the growing popularity of vapes among school- and college-going students, called vaping a public-health concern, and asked for closer scrutiny of the composition, marketing and availability of the products across the country. They said e-cigarette liquids and aerosols can contain nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerol, flavouring substances, other chemicals and metals.
Citing Johns Hopkins University research, they said heating e-liquids produces compounds including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein, and that emissions analyses have found nearly 2,000 chemicals. They said the aerosol is not harmless water vapour, because heating triggers reactions that create new substances, and that the chemicals vary with ingredients, device design, battery voltage, heating temperature and how users puff.
Parts that touch the liquid can add metal particles to the aerosol, potentially increasing user exposure, they said. They pointed to research linking vaping with respiratory and cardiovascular problems, lung injury and other adverse health outcomes, while saying long-term effects are not fully understood and findings on formaldehyde emissions under different heating conditions conflict.
They warned that newer high-temperature devices could change the chemicals released, and called for an urgent scientific assessment. They asked the government to oversee the expanding vape market more closely, restrict marketing to the young, and tell the public about the possible health risks.