Vapeboss – In a press conference held online in Jakarta last Friday, Human Rights (HR) researcher Asep Mulyana urged the government to create an integrated e-cigarette policy framework to guarantee the fulfillment of the public's right to health.

"From a human rights perspective, there is a right to health that must be fulfilled and protected by the state, and a corporate responsibility to respect human rights," Asep said.

Asep explained that, from the perspective of economic, social, and cultural rights, the state must actively deploy all resources to create a health system capable of meeting the needs of its people, including adopting all appropriate legislative, administrative, and budgetary measures.

"In the context of e-cigarettes, the state is obliged to formulate a policy and regulatory framework with the main objective of achieving the highest attainable standard of health," he explained.

He continued, to achieve the goal of fulfilling these rights, the regulatory framework for e-cigarettes will cover various aspects. First, state control over the production and content of e-cigarettes through pictorial health warnings on e-cigarettes. Second, strict supervision to control distribution with a ban or minimum restriction on advertising, promotion, and sponsorship.

Then, a regulatory framework to limit consumption, such as including e-cigarettes as products that are also regulated in No Smoking Area (KTR) regulations in every city/district in Indonesia.

"Finally, the obligation of companies to avoid the negative impacts of their activities on the right to health," he stated.

Asep argued that e-cigarette companies are also responsible if the public is negatively affected by the products they make, and must prevent or reduce direct impacts on the right to health due to their operations, products, and business services.

Asep also assessed that the current regulation of e-cigarettes is still weak. However, the products, along with their advertising and sponsorship, are very strong, leading to high growth.

"In Indonesia, the number of e-cigarette users has increased significantly, reaching 2.2 million people," he said.

The primary target market for e-cigarettes themselves is typically young people or Generation Z, as they promote e-cigarettes as a new and modern lifestyle to increase e-cigarette users.

"An integrated e-cigarette policy framework is needed that covers the fulfillment of all health rights needs with the highest attainable standard," he concluded.

Source: Yahoo! News