Tobacco harm reduction NGO criticising Singapore's vape approach is 'paid mouthpiece' for industry: Shanmugam

SINGAPORE: A tobacco harm reduction non-governmental organisation (NGO) that criticised Singapore’s stance on vaping is a “paid mouthpiece” for the tobacco industry, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said on Saturday (Aug 30).

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) warned that prohibition will “fuel underground markets” while denying smokers access to safer alternatives, according to an article by Tobacco Reporter, which describes itself on its website as "the leading trade journal around the world".

CAPHRA was responding to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s National Day Rally speech earlier this month, where he said that vaping would be treated as a drug issue.

Singapore has been clamping down on vaping, and will soon list etomidate — the anaesthetic agent that has been found in some vapes — in the Misuse of Drugs Act.

From Sep 1, the drug will be listed as a Class C drug, which means it will become illegal to traffic, manufacture, import, export, possess or consume etomidate without authorisation.

CAPHRA advocates for harm reduction, which practises providing users with regulated ways to consume tobacco or drugs, to reduce the overall harm caused.

It has warned that harsher penalties “risk undermining global evidence on tobacco harm reduction”, adding that countries regulating safer nicotine products are seeing “steep declines” in smoking-related deaths.

Speaking to the media before a community event in Chong Pang on Saturday, Mr Shanmugam took aim at CAPHRA as well as its statements.

He called CAPHRA an “activist group” where members promote electronic smoking devices under the banner of tobacco harm reduction.

He also said they seemed to be a lobby group for a tobacco company, pushing the narrative that electronic cigarettes are a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes.

“This is a kind of snake oil that these organisations peddle and they avoid saying it's harmful in itself,” he said.

Mr Shanmugam said CAPHRA’s executive coordinator frequently speaks at the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum, which he said was supported by major international tobacco companies.

“My conclusion (is) they are proxies, essentially paid mouthpieces for the tobacco industry, which is hoping to push nicotine through vapes. And they don’t really care if other stuff gets pushed through vapes too,” he said.

Banning vapes would affect their business, and their primary focus is not the health of Singaporeans, he added.

“(The) government of Singapore, for us, the primary focus is the safety, security and the health of Singaporeans … I'm not about to listen to some NGO, which seems to be funded by tobacco companies, and get advice from them on what is good for our society and our children,” he said.

HARM REDUCTION APPROACH?

On CAPHRA's opposition to Singapore’s stance, Mr Shanmugam said its viewpoints do not represent the mainstream view here.

He noted that the NGO has campaigned against the World Health Organization’s treaty on tobacco control, and promotes misleading claims about e-cigarettes.

“Nicotine-based vapes deliver four packets of cigarettes in one vape, and now if you have a vape, you can lace it with all sorts of other stuff … Can you actually say that is good for you?”

On harm reduction, Mr Shanmugam said it may be helpful in countries where drug use is rampant, but that is not the case in Singapore.

“We are in a situation where, actually, we are pretty successful in stopping the flow of drugs in the first place,” he said, adding that the legal system, police and Central Narcotics Bureau are working well in tandem to address this.

“By and large, our society is drug free, and therefore, why should we consider harm reduction?”

For a country that has “lost the fight” and has criminal gangs operating underground and controlling the market, harm reduction might be a useful approach, said Mr Shanmugam.

Even then, he said there has been pushback, with some US cities moving away from harm reduction after many lives were lost.

“So really, I would say to Singaporeans, just because somebody else says it, we don't need to be colonised in our mind. Just look at the evidence, open your eyes,” he said.