Mexico Bans Imports of All Vaping Products Under WHO Guidelines

According to foreign media reports on February 26, Mexico has banned the import of all vaping products by presidential decree. The new law took effect on February 20 and prohibits all vaping products, including zero-nicotine e-liquids, and even bans the sale of hardware sold without e-liquid.

The president cited a variety of unsubstantiated health-related reasons for the vaping ban and invoked recommendations from the influential World Health Organization.

For example:

It has been reported that the use of these vaping devices can cause respiratory inflammation, increased white blood cells, bilateral lung opacities (spots on the lungs), low oxygen levels in the blood, and even respiratory failure. In addition to increasing the susceptibility of airway cells to viral infection, long-term use is expected to increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

In addition to claiming that vaping causes chronic lung disease, Lopez Obrador’s decree strongly implied that nicotine vaping products were responsible for some of the vaping-related lung injuries in the United States, even though those injuries were actually caused by illicit THC cannabis oil diluted with vitamin E acetate.

He did this by relying on outdated data, such as the CDC warning issued on September 11, without explaining that many of the early cases involved patients who lied about using illegal cannabis oil products.

The main reason for the ban is the ideology of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Bloomberg-funded tobacco control body, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Lopez Obrador’s decree lists various risks promoted in FCTC documents, including the alleged harms of secondhand vapor.

…The WHO concluded that people exposed to environments containing aerosols exhaled by e-cigarette users face health risks from particulate matter, including fine and ultrafine particles, and from new sources of air pollution such as 1,2-propylene glycol, certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals such as nickel and chromium, and nicotine. Therefore, compared with surrounding air levels, the increased concentration of toxic substances in exhaled aerosols poses greater health risks to anyone exposed.

The bottom line in Mexico is that the WHO/FCTC recommends prohibition where possible, and the government believes that is possible. Countries that follow the WHO’s doctrine on vaping policy can receive substantial grants for public health programs that employ large numbers of people. Much of the funding for the WHO tobacco control program comes from former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is currently campaigning for the Democratic nomination in this year’s U.S. presidential election.

Mexico’s Ministry of Health said that the sale of vaping products is already illegal in the country. Puerta Vallarta Daily reported that the ministry justified the new decree by claiming it was necessary to harmonize the regulatory framework in order to prevent the illegal trade practices surrounding these products.

It remains unclear whether the presidential decree means there will be a wave of enforcement against retailers or consumers, or whether it is merely intended as a way to showcase a Bloomberg-funded WHO policy prize.

Mexico is a popular vacation destination, and banning vaping product imports could damage the country’s booming tourism industry.

Last November, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that the country’s 2008 tobacco control law does not prohibit the sale of vaping products.

Dr. Roberto Sussman, president of Pro-Vapeo Mexico, said: Every prohibition leads to black markets, social problems, and an escalation of the harms already created by prohibition.

The consumer organization Pro-VapeoMéxico has a very useful website available in both Spanish and English. Pro-Vapeo is a member of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO). Physicist Sussman has been actively committed to tobacco harm reduction for many years.

According to a 2017 survey, more than 1.2 million Mexicans, or 1% of the adult population, regularly use vapor products.

According to the Tobacco Atlas, Mexico’s adult smoking rate in 2015 was 11.9%, the lowest among the major countries in North America.