A public health milestone

Business Recorder

a day ago

The Punjab government's recent decision to ban all e-cigarettes, vapes and nicotine pouches across the province marks a major step in protecting public health. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif led this move, directing the cabinet to enforce a 'complete ban' on e-cigarettes in Punjab.
In a cabinet meeting she warned that the 'increasing use of vapes among youth is a major health threat' and ordered provincial and district authorities to launch a province-wide crackdown on vape sales and use.
This decisive action, and a phenomenal step backed by a cabinet resolution, showcases strong political leadership on tobacco control. It represents a clear acknowledgment that new nicotine products are undermining youth health, and that urgent curbs are needed. This ban comes amid an explosion of vaping outlets in Pakistan's cities.
Researchers from the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, note that vape devices and nicotine pouches have 'made rapid ingress' in Pakistani society, making it mandatory for the government to ban all new nicotine products, including vapes, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches.
They are openly sold in corner stores, malls and specialty shops in major cities – Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta – with no consistent enforcement of age limits. Health surveys find e-cigarettes sold 'to people of all ages in many stores and supermarkets across Pakistan's major cities'. Additionally, the flavors such as candy, chocolate, mango, and other fruity/minty flavors are specifically designed to entice children and youth towards addiction.
In Karachi alone, studies reported that roughly 68% of surveyed college students had tried vaping devices. Similarly, SDPI experts observed that cheap nicotine pouches are available in 'almost every convenience store' and dedicated vape bars, sheesha cafes and cigar lounges are targeting young, urban consumers.
The rapid spread of these outlets – often advertising vaping as a trendy or 'safer' alternative – confirms what doctors and NGOs have warned: without regulation, nicotine products will proliferate unchecked. Punjab's ban builds on earlier provincial efforts. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), activists with the NGO Blue Veins and the KP Tobacco Control Cell raised the alarm when youth vaping soared. In January 2024, the KP government imposed a 60-day interim ban on e-cigarette storage, sale, and use that was extended multiple times before entering the process of becoming a provincial law.
The Deputy Commissioners were ordered to ban sales within 50 meters of schools and restrict sales to under-21. Civil society groups (Blue Veins, provincial doctors, the Alliance for Sustainable Tobacco Control) applauded the move as a 'significant victory' for health. They immediately pressed for extension and permanent legislation, pointing out that the ban had protected youth from 'addictive substances' and that comprehensive laws were needed for lasting impact. In Peshawar district, a wider local ban on vapes and nicotine pouches was announced under the 'Live Well' health initiative (Section 144) in mid-2024, prohibiting sales near hospitals and schools and to minors
These provincial actions – paralleled by spot enforcements by Lahore's own and the Federal Tobacco Control Cell – show a clear consensus at the local level that new nicotine products pose unacceptable risks. For example, Lahore authorities have recently inspected and sealed several vape shops, signaling that even the provincial capital recognizes the threat. Health experts have repeatedly sounded the warning about why these steps are needed. E-cigarettes and heated tobacco devices still contain highly addictive nicotine and toxic chemicals, contrary to industry claims of harmlessness. Tobacco control experts from around the globe at the World No-Tobacco Day emphasized that 'none' of the new nicotine products is safe. They noted that e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco cause damage not only to the lungs, but also to the cardiovascular, immune, renal, and nervous systems, with equal or more severe repressions replicating that of cigarettes.
In a similar event jointly organized by the SDPI and SPDC, the industry messaging was attributed to false claims of 'risk-free', 'stain-free', 'discreetness', or other children/youth enticing slogans, as a smoking cessation aid, but independent analyses show no evidence of any of these claims. As SDPI reports, the tobacco industry's 'harm reduction' narrative is a ploy to renormalize smoking and evade regulation and attract children and youth to new forms of addiction. The WHO has concluded there is 'insufficient independent evidence to support e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation intervention' and that these products are 'undoubtedly harmful'. Pakistani tobacco control experts point out that nicotine itself is a powerfully addictive drug – vaping can deliver even higher nicotine doses than cigarettes, and that cooling-toxins like formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and novel compounds (e.g., synthetic 'nicotinoids') have been found in e-liquids. The misleading rhetoric of 'harm reduction' by tobacco companies has been discredited by recent developments. Worldwide, governments are stepping in. SDPI notes that 'many countries across the globe have banned the sales and consumption of e-cigarettes'. This list includes dozens of nations from Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia to Argentina, Bahrain, India, and Thailand.
Australia now classifies nicotine as 'hazardous poison' and a prescription-only medicine (as per Schedule 4 Poison) adults cannot legally buy nicotine vapes without a doctor's prescription. Singapore and Brunei Darussalam have strict prohibitions on any vaping products for consumers. Even the European Union has seen bans: Belgium and France prohibit disposable vapes, and France has just outlawed nicotine pouches (finding 131 poisonings in 2022 alone)
Alarmingly, French regulators recently discovered a new synthetic nicotine analog (6-methyl-nicotine, or 'Metatin') in some e-cigarette cartridges. Previous studies suggest this compound may be three times more addictive than regular nicotine and even more toxic to lung tissue. The French anti-smoking group CNCT has sued a vape company over this finding and is calling for a ban on all untested nicotine analogs.
These global examples underline that nicotine-delivery devices are inherently dangerous and evolving; a free market approach risks allowing unknown toxins to spread. Importantly, many Pakistani experts and advocates have long argued that such bans are necessary. Think-tanks and NGOs, including the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), have been producing evidence and policy briefs on e-cigarettes for years. In SDPI's 2022 analysis, researchers warned that novel products were filling a regulatory vacuum in Pakistan: 'In the absence of a distinct policy, these products are spreading across the length and breadth of the country.' They explicitly called for urgent discussion and policy development to curb e-cigarettes and heated tobacco. Similarly, public health seminars (like the recent events organized by all tobacco control organizations on World No Tobacco Day), brought together doctors and civil society to demand immediate bans on vapes, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches, besides the implementation of high taxes on cigarettes to reduce consumption.
Conclusively, both research institutions and practicing clinicians in Pakistan recognize that novel nicotine products, including vapes, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches, are undermining decades of tobacco control. Punjab's ban is an important breakthrough, but it also highlights a crucial gap: the lack of a national law banning vaping and nicotine pouches. Currently, at the federal level, there is no blanket ban; vapes are illegally sold nationwide as an 'accessible choice for adults'.
The tobacco control advocates in Pakistan urge federal and provincial policymakers to seize this momentum. The Punjab cabinet has shown the way by treating nicotine and vaping as a public health emergency. Now Pakistan's National Command and Operation Centre, Federal Tobacco Control Cell, and parliament should enact a permanent, harmonized ban on vapes and nicotine pouches. Such a law should match Punjab's and KP's provisions, and also address internet and import channels.
This national prohibition would fulfill our commitments under WHO Framework convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and demonstrate that Pakistan prioritizes youth health over the tobacco industry's profits. Combined with enforcement and public awareness, a countrywide ban would ensure that the gains made in Punjab (and earlier in KP) protect all Pakistani children and youth. Punjab e-cigarette ban is a milestone won by evidence-based advocacy and leadership. Now is the time to translate this province-wide victory into a federal policy – banning vaping products everywhere in Pakistan. The scientific evidence, global experience, and local advocacy all point the same way: vapes and nicotine pouches are not safe or beneficial, and must be removed from our markets. A unified national ban, supported by enforcement and education, is the logical next step to secure the health of our nation's youth and uphold Pakistan's tobacco control goals.
(The writer is a Senior Research Associate at Sustainable Development Policy Institute)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025