Reported deaths and lung-related illnesses caused by vaping in the United States have made users in Greater Jakarta begin to question their own health.

Anthony Lambotte, manager of a cafe in BSD City, Serpong, Banten, said he had recently kicked his e-cigarette habit for fear of addiction and deteriorating fitness.

“I used to vape constantly because it was easy and did not smell. But because of the ceaseless consumption, my throat hurt a lot,” the 27-year-old told The Jakarta Post.

Gunawan Tan, 20, a student at a private university in West Jakarta, said he and some of his friends had started to worry about their health after finding out that vaping had reportedly caused deaths.

“We thought vaping was way better than smoking because they said it put you at less risk of getting diseases. Maybe now the safest option is to avoid both altogether,” he said.

New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Sunday that he would ban all flavored e-cigarettes besides tobacco and menthol. It will be the second state in the country after Michigan to introduce such a ban.

Health officials in the US have linked at least eight deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations to vaping. President Donald Trump’s administration has also announced plans to wipe out, at the federal level, flavored-cigarettes from store shelves over concerns of respiratory problems.

Daniel Bramantyo, a general practitioner at Pertamina Jaya Hospital in Central Jakarta said the components that had caused the deaths were still under study given that each vaping liquid contained different ingredients.

“If it is proven that one of the chemicals contained in the liquids is harmful to users, regulations should limit vaping activities,” Daniel told the Post.

Although many young people said they used flavored e-cigarettes in an attempt to stop smoking, Daniel argued that because vaping liquids still contained nicotine, they could still cause addiction.

“Even though the nicotine dosage is lower, vaping fluids are still as dangerous to the lungs as cigarettes, especially when they are often misused by being mixed with drugs. Such cases have occurred in Indonesia,” he said.

“What’s worrying is that nicotine can cause blockages and narrowing of blood vessels so that the spread of blood is imperfect leading to heart conditions and reproductive problems. At worst, it can damage the body’s cells leading to oral and lung cancers,” he added.

“In Indonesia, there have been no reports of deaths allegedly caused by vaping liquids, but when mixed with narcotics they are dangerous.”

Reza Amirul Juniarshah, head of communications at Juul Indonesia, a company that produces e-cigarettes that resemble USB flash drives, conceded that the company was closely monitoring the health-related cases in the US.

“Reports suggest that many patients were vaping THC [the psychoactive component of marijuana]. To be clear, we do not manufacture products with THC or any compounds derived from cannabis,” he said.

The US Food and Drug Administration, however, has issued a warning letter to the company’s operation in the country because it had promoted and sold its vaping products as healthier alternatives to traditional cigarettes.   

Reza said that in the US, the company had already stopped selling its non-tobacco and non-menthol-based Juul pods to traditional retail stores, and was fighting against counterfeit and compatible products made with unknown ingredients under unknown manufacturing standards.

“In Indonesia, we also respect relevant laws and regulations,” Reza said.

Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) head Penny K. Lukito said the agency had not issued distribution permits for vaping or other e-cigarette products because they were considered to contain dangerous substances.

She said the agency had conducted a study related to the dangers of e-cigarettes and could only monitor cigarette labels and the amount of cigarette content, such as nicotine, but not the circulation.

“We have already provided the study results to the Health Ministry and the Trade Ministry,” Penny said as quoted by Antara news agency. “There must be legal protection because e-cigarettes contain nicotine as well and are dangerous.”

On the other hand, the Depok city administration in West Java has planned to establish a number of prohibited areas for e-cigarettes, which will be proposed through the revision of City Regulation No. 3/2014 on non-smoking areas. (syk)

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