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Vaping, explained.

We do not sell any products. We are an independent, non-profit organisation and we advocate for making informed choices and harm reduction.

Last reviewed 23 October 2026.

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What is harm reduction?

Checked 23 October 2026

Harm reduction means reducing the damage a risky habit causes, without insisting the person stop first. Applied to smoking, it means giving an adult who smokes a less harmful alternative.

It is a contested principle. Critics argue it entrenches nicotine use instead of ending it. That disagreement is about what the goal should be rather than about the data, and it is a legitimate public argument.

The Cochrane Library’s living review reports high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes help more people stop smoking than nicotine replacement therapy: Cochrane, current version published 26 August 2026.

What is nicotine, and the 20 mg limit

Checked 23 October 2026

Nicotine is a natural, addictive compound found in the tobacco plant. While nicotine is addictive, the serious disease burden from smoking comes mainly from burning tobacco rather than from nicotine on its own, which is the premise the harm reduction argument rests on.

Malaysian rules cap e-liquid nicotine at 20 mg per ml, down from 35 mg per ml on 1 October 2025.

The cap is set by the Packaging and Labelling Regulations 2024: P.U.(A) 261/2024, full gazette. Whether nicotine e-liquid is also a Poisons List substance was decided by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on 15 May 2026, and the Government withdrew its appeal on 18 August 2026. What that means for retail sale has not been clarified.

What counts as a vape under Malaysian law?

Checked 23 October 2026

Act 852 treats vape devices and e-liquids as smoking products and smoking substances, in the same statute as tobacco. That is why the rules on advertising, packaging, display and age of sale look so much like cigarette rules.

A vape is the physical device that is also called an e-cigarette, or vape pen. E-liquid is the consumable liquid that goes inside the vape device. When the device heats the e-liquid, it turns into vapor for inhaling.

Act 852 reaches wider than vape alone, but not as wide as people assume. Heated tobacco is inside Act 852, because it contains tobacco, and the regulations give heated products their own category. Nicotine pouches are outside Act 852: the Health Ministry said in June 2026 that the Act does not cover products that are not used for smoking or that contain no tobacco, and that pouches are Group C poisons under the Poisons Act 1952 instead.

The full Act 852 explainer, with the regulations gazetted under it, and the product categories defined. The ministry position on pouches is reported in The Star, 2 June 2026.

What is an e-cigarette?

Checked 23 October 2026

A battery powered device that heats liquid into an inhalable aerosol. An e-cigarette, or vape, is essentially the same thing.

Nothing is burned so there is no tar, and that is the clearest physical difference between vape and a combustible cigarette. Tar carries many of the carcinogens in cigarette smoke.

Heated tobacco is a different thing again. It heats real tobacco leaf without burning it. Vape contains no tobacco at all.

For descriptions of open and closed systems, pods, tar, snus and pouches, explore our glossary.

Why should vapes be kept away from under-18s?

Checked 23 October 2026

MOVE sees youth access to vapes as a crisis. That is why we argue for strict controls on access: no vape store within 1 km of a school, a clear sign at every vape store that under-18s may not enter, and an identity check at every sale. If in doubt, verify: “Jika Sangsi, Minta IC”. MOVE believes that nicotine products should never be marketed to youths as it can harm brain development.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2025 article on nicotine and its effect on youth brain development also states that e-cigarettes may have benefits to adults who smoke as a substitute for smoked tobacco products.

Why does MOVE argue against a vape ban?

Checked 23 October 2026

Legal prohibition does not remove consumer demand. A ban will move the market underground. A ban also removes the ability to control what goes into the product and this puts consumers at greater risk.

The two harms that worry us most, minors getting hold of product and liquids laced with illicit substances, both get worse without a legal market.

Our position on regulation rather than prohibition can be found here.

Looking for a definition? Explore the glossary.

Tar, popcorn lung, EVALI, snus, heated tobacco, the Poisons List, P.U.(A) numbers, living reviews, expert elicitation and the acronyms. A short explainer of some terms you might come across on the topic of vaping in Malaysia.

Health questions

Does vaping help people quit smoking?

Checked 23 October 2026

Vaping is not a quick fix. Because nothing is burned, vaping avoids the tar and carbon monoxide of cigarette smoke, which makes it a less harmful way for adult smokers to take nicotine. It is not risk-free.

The Cochrane living review found high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes help more adults quit smoking than nicotine patches or gum. The often-quoted estimate that vaping is around 95% less harmful than smoking comes from Public Health England’s 2015 review, and it is contested: see the criticism and our answer.

Vaping is a transition tool for adults, not a lifestyle product for young people. Outright bans push consumers into the black market. Act 852 should be enforced strictly, with an identity check at every sale.

The Cochrane Library’s living review, with evidence current to January 2026.

The full answer, with what the evidence does not show.

Untested and drug-laced liquids

Checked 23 October 2026

Liquids mixed with illicit substances, including tetrahydrocannabinol, are a documented risk in Malaysia. The Health Minister cited 402 synthetic-drug vape cases recorded by police up to April 2026, and the National Poison Centre logged 76 poisoning cases linked to vape liquids between 2020 and 2024.

Compliant, regulated vape liquids will provide a layer of protection to consumers.

Berita RTM, 20 June 2026, on the 402 recorded synthetic-drug vape cases · Bernama, 4 June 2025, on the 76 National Poison Centre poisoning cases, restated by the director of the Centre, Nur Azzalia Kamaruzaman, in Free Malaysia Today, 9 June 2026, who added that recorded cases are a small fraction of what happens in the field · The Vibes, 4 June 2025, on MOVE’s stated position. How to check a product yourself.

What is EVALI, and is it about vaping?

Checked 23 October 2026

EVALI is an e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury: a cluster of severe lung injuries reported in the United States from 2019.

Of the hospitalised patients whose substance use was recorded, 82 per cent had used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products. THC is illicit in Malaysia. In the US case, it was found that Vitamin E acetate was used as a thickener in illicit tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) liquid, which was found in 48 of 51 patient lung-fluid samples and is the most probable toxicant. The United States Centers for Disease Control adds that the evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals.

What is critical to note is that the danger was in an unregulated supply chain, which is where our argument points.

United States Centers for Disease Control, archived outbreak page, content last updated 25 February 2020. Defined alongside “popcorn lung” and the other terms in the glossary.

What is nicotine replacement therapy, and how does vaping compare?

Checked 23 October 2026

Nicotine replacement therapy is the set of licensed medical products for stopping smoking: gums, patches, lozenges and inhalators. It is the comparator in the research, because researchers ask whether e-cigarettes work better or worse than nicotine replacement therapy.

The Cochrane living review reports high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes help more people stop smoking than traditional nicotine replacement therapy does.

Cochrane Library, current version published 26 August 2026. Read the limits with the finding: it is about adults who already smoke. It reports short-term side effects, but it is not a long-term safety study.

Explore The Evidence Library

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