A FIRE incident occurred on board a Malindo Air flight recently. An electronic-cigarette battery that a passenger was carrying, exploded in his lap.
The passenger was injured but a doctor on board attended to his injuries.
One would expect that the responsible thing for the manufacturer of these e-cigarettes to do was to immediately withdraw the product from the market.
It is disappointing to read the comments of Malaysian Organisation of Vape Entity (Move) dismissing the incident as a case of ignorance that is simply being blown out of proportion. It appears its over-enthusiasm to champion the interest of its members has blinded it to the basic principles of consumer protection.
The e-cigarette battery explosion on board Malindo Air was not the first and only incident of spontaneous combustion of the device. Last year in Bintulu, a 53-year-old van driver died when his e-cigarette device exploded. According to a news report, the battery of the e-cigarette exploded and it popped out from the device. The driver collapsed from the force of the explosion which struck his chest leaving a hole with burnt marks.
We don’t know the true extent of this spontaneous combustion problem and there may be cases that have gone unreported. This is an open-and-shut case in consumer protection that warrants an immediate product recall.
In other cases of faulty consumer products, immediate action is taken. For example, Toyota recalled 127,000 vehicles in Malaysia between May and July this year over faulty Takata airbags. I am not aware of any Takata airbag related accidents and deaths in the country. About seven million Toyota vehicles have been recalled worldwide with another potential 34 million vehicles affected in the United States.
The car manufacturer did not foolishly defend the defect, nor excuse it away by referring to the enormous size of its business, which is what pro-vapers are postulating in referring to the e-cigarette business being a half-a-billion-ringgit industry in Malaysia and the biggest in Asia.
Vapers are rehashing old promises the tobacco industry dishes out to governments over the years, such as “we promise not to sell to minors and educate vendors to not sell to children” and “have a code of ethics to educate the public”.
In the same breath, groups such as Malaysian E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternative Association admit that regulating is not going to be easy because the industry involves buying, selling and manufacturing. Yes, it will indeed be a nightmare in enforcement if the authorities were to just “regulate” e-cigarettes and not ban them.
Bottom line is, the e-cigarette device can explode, anytime, anywhere, causing serious injury and even death to the user.
For now, the immediate cause of action is to do what the Health Minister is proposing — ban e-cigarettes until further notice.
n MARY ASSUNTA, Senior policy adviser, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, Sydney, Australia