Year Four girl was caught by a disciplinary teacher selling flavoured

disposable electronic cigarettes called e-shisha or shisha pens to her older

male schoolmates in Tanjung Tokong.
The girl was caught before the school holidays started, according to the
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP).
CAP education officer N.V. Subbarow said a teacher from the school told
the association that the shisha pens, which are about 12cm in length, cost
RM15 each and was good for 500 puffs.
He said CAP had received complaints from 15 schools in Penang where
students and pupils were caught vaping or smoking e-shisha.
What was more shocking out of the number, 10 were primary schools,
he told a press conference at the CAP office here yesterday.
Subbarow claimed that stalls selling shisha pens were commonly found in
front of schools in Penang, especially in rural areas.
Usually the stalls will not only be selling shisha but also junk food and
drinks which children like.
Once when I spotted a tidbit stall near a primary school in Bayan Baru
selling shisha, I approached the trader wanting to get one but was
declined. They only sell shisha to the children, he claimed.
Subbarow felt that the traders were cautious in not wanting to sell shisha
pens to adults as they suspect something amiss if adults approached them
to buy the item.
CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris said teachers had told CAP that some
students in Penang had gone to the extent of working part time to buy ecigarettes, shisha pens or vapes while some resort to lying to their parents
to get money to buy these items.

He urged the Government to impose an immediate ban on e-cigarettes,

vapes and shisha pens before they become a threat to the nations
wellbeing.
He claimed that many primary schools were facing what he calls the
shisha threat and that pupils were spending their parents hard earned
money to support this life-ravaging habit.
It will not be surprising if we have more drug addicts in the future as the
seeds for drug addiction is through e-cigarette, shisha and vape, Idris
added.
He said a CAP survey showed that children as young as eight years old
had started puffing on shisha pens which come in attractive colours and a
variety of flavours.
Vaping and shisha smoking is viewed as trendier among students
compared to cigarette smoking due to the variety of flavours it offers.
For the same reason, it is getting popular among female students and
women, he said.
Idris claimed that shisha contained formaldehyde which is a colourless
flammable gas with a distinct pungent odour.
Exposure to formaldehyde could irritate the eyes, nose and throat. It could
also cause symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, and dizziness.
Formaldehyde has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals, he
said.
Idris said shisha devices do not carry any label or have information of the
producer, country of origin and ingredients.
And since it is not legally banned, one could easily buy it at public places
like supermarkets and night markets, he added.
He said 14 countries around the world have banned e-cigarettes and
vaping but Malaysia is still waiting for scientific evidence and studies
before deciding on the ban.

t is absolutely shocking and baffling that even primary school- children

have taken the bait and are getting hooked on vaping. No wonder the
Johor Sultan has received widespread support in banning vaping in Johor.
I hope the legislators or local councils will act fast to pass laws or by-laws
against vaping nationwide before more children especially will be addicted.
Truly, E-cigarettes have become the fashionable new electronic toy for
many teenagers and young adults, and now among primary schoolkids.
According to a United States survey, e-cigarettes surpassed cigarettes as
the most commonly used tobacco product by middle school and high
school students.
As pointed out in the editorial (The Star, Dec 2), it is questionable and
doubtful that the inhalation of any foreign substances (hallucinogenic or
otherwise) can ever be considered normal.
Many doctors have voiced their concern over the risk of addiction of ecigarettes. Data from a growing number of studies indicate that electronic
cigarettes are far from harmless chemicals in e-cigarettes can damage
lung tissue and reduce the lungs ability to keep germs and other harmful
substances from entering the body.
Like cigarettes, e-cigarettes, notwithstanding its soaring popularity among
young adults including females, should be kept firmly out of the handsof
adolescents, particularly primary schoolchildren who innocently and
ignorantly view vaping as trendy and harmless.
Unlike true cigarettes, electronic cigarettes do not burn tobacco. In fact,
they do not burn anything. Instead, the battery-operated devices turn a
flavoured liquid into a vapour.
Users inhale, or vape, the mist. The liquid usually contains nicotine, a
natural stimulant in tobacco that is highly addictive. Also in the liquid are
solvents, flavourings and who knows what else.
Sadly, despite a public perception to the contrary, vaping to the young
adults does not seem to be addictive and harmless.

the vapers brag about being able to use e-cigarettes indoors where
smoking is banned, that e-cigarettes cost far less than cigarettes and that
their colours, potency and flavours could be personalised to deliver a truly
individual experience.
More worrisome is that some students have admitted that their throats
become dry and scratchy with vaping. Some said that vaping made them
choke. Surprisingly, we seldom hear of smokers complaining of this
adverse effect.
We can therefore safely conclude that vaping is not safer than smoking; it
is equally bad though not worse yet.
However, if the authorities in other states do not follow Johors example,
soon many of our youths will have a bleak future in terms of their health,
which ultimately will affect our national healthcare budget.
Without action, there will be no restrictions in place to protect public health
against the risks these products pose, particularly to the health of our
children.
I urge the powers-to-be to act before it is too late.
Hes only 11 and now in Year Five. And already, he is into e-cigarettes.
Whats worse, it was his 14-year-old brother who got him hooked on it.
I started about two months ago. My brother introduced it to me. I guess he
wanted my parents to think that when the two of us were together, we
would not do anything mischievous, he confessed.
E-cigarettes and vaping are becoming dangerous habits for the young, as
there is little to regulate their sale or use.
The young also have easy access to the mods and juices as they are on
sale everywhere, even in the local pasar malam.
The 14-year-old older brother said almost 40% of his male school friends
in Kemaman near here own e-cigarettes.

Even the girls in the school vape. Vaping is now seen to be something
trendy. Some even vape in the classroom when the teacher is not around,
he said.
Its easier for them now as they are on school holiday and staying with their
grandparents who let them roam freely.
The brothers each own an e-cigarette, which cost them a total of about
RM1,100 and the parents are in the dark about it.
If the parents are unaware about their expensive habit, where do this
young school going children get the money to buy the vaping liquids?
None of the students wanted to answer the question.
They, however, admitted that their vaping habit had started with just a
couple of puffs with peers and believing that vaping was glamorous and
that it was less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
For the brothers 13-year-old friend Zack, it started with a few puffs of
mango lassi flavoured electronic cigarette with his friends some six
months ago.
Today, he is well and truly hooked.
Zack (not his real name), the son of a contractor and a primary school
teacher, said his daily routine since six months ago was to come from
school, have lunch and tell his mother that he was going to the library to do
some revision with his friends, including the two brothers.
But they do not go to the library. Instead, the friends would meet up at a
secluded spot and start vaping.
Zack was seen busy blowing clouds of nicotine vapour into the air with his
other four friends.
Their choice was mainly the mango lassi, horny mango and lychee.
According to Zack, he had no choice but to lie to his parents.

I have now become addicted to it, he said.

Zack now has two electronic cigarettes worth a total of RM500 which he
hides in a cupboard. He admitted that what he was doing was wrong but
said it was too hard for him to quit.