Guyana moves to restrict imports of vaping products to protect young people
President Irfaan Ali says the measures will be gazetted in the coming days, with any import waiver to be decided by the tobacco control board.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. Guyana's government has moved to restrict the importation of all types of vaping products, saying too many students and young people are harming themselves by using them.
President Irfaan Ali announced the measures in a national broadcast and on social media on October 17, saying they would be formally gazetted in the coming days.
"This measure is necessary in light of growing concerns over the widespread and unregulated importation, sale, and use of vapes and vaping products in Guyana," he said.
"Vaping with all of the other alternative substances is negatively affecting our children and young people. The absence of complete knowledge about those long-term effects must not be mistaken for evidence of safety."
Customs order
Finance Minister Ashni Singh will formally issue the order to customs and enforcement agencies to clamp down on imports almost immediately.
Ali said any exemptions would have to come from the "minister of health, the national tobacco control council or the tobacco control board, as specified in the order", adding that any waiver for importation "has to be done at the level of the tobacco control board".
Call to schools and communities
The president urged teachers and community leaders to help monitor the use of vaping products, and warned that pregnant women can pass illnesses to unborn children.
He said Guyana was joining other nations that have taken similar action.
"We have to protect our children, we have to protect our schools, we have to protect our society," Ali said.
