E-cigarettes in Egypt

Egypt: The president’s health adviser, Mohamed Tag-Eldin, has told TV viewers that e-cigarettes are not good alternatives to smoking, as they can have serious side effects such as poisoning, lung damage and nerve inflammation.

Egypt: The Ministry of Health has issued a warning against the use of e-cigarettes, saying that the argument that they are less harmful than combustibles cigarettes is “completely untrue”. It adds that e-cigarettes contain “a huge amount” of nicotine and harmful toxins that can cause chronic diseases, damage the respiratory and digestive systems, and cause cardiovascular disease.

Egypt: Following a discussion on monitoring the sale of vaping products and heated tobacco, especially to minors, as well as enforcing the ban on advertising such products in stores and online, the House of Representatives Health Affairs Committee has demanded that a number of ministries and government agencies attend its next meeting for a briefing on the status of tobacco law enforcement, press reports.

Egypt: The head of the Tobacco Division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, Ibrahim El Imbabi, told a seminar on the controlling of nicotine product imports and exports that the division is currently working with the Tax Authority on creating a tariff and specific customs duty for disposable e-cigarettes, press reports. E-liquids are currently subject to a tax of EGP2 ($0.06) per ml and a health insurance charge amounting to 10% of the selling price.

Egypt: Health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told a press conference that media companies were breaking the tobacco control law by indirectly advertising tobacco and portraying smoking as normal and culturally acceptable in TV dramas. He said he was also concerned about increasing advertising of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco. Akram Radwan, a member of the Health Committee, suggested banning TV from portraying the use of any tobacco product.

Egypt: The Tobacco Division of the Federation of Egyptian Industries is to hold a workshop with e-liquid importers in Cairo tomorrow to discuss strategies to combat illicit products, press reports.