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About 1.5 million Mexicans consume electronic cigarettes and vapers on the “black market”.
The Supreme Court has already upheld the unconstitutionality of prohibiting the use and sale of these items in Mexico.
Before initiating a regulation in Congress, the President issued a decree to limit its import and export.
The electronic cigarettes and vapers officially they are prohibited in Mexico, but thanks to electronic commerce they can be easily acquired on the internet; However, despite the fact that its legislation has already been launched, or at least on the table for discussion, now not even digital platforms will be able to import these products.
The e-cigarette market
The online purchase of electronic cigarettes and vapers was never regulated in Mexico, nNow it put the magnifying glass on the consumer in the shadow of the ecoomerce, so that more than 1.5 million Mexicans could resort to this “black market” to purchase products.
Now, with the import and export ban on these items, the future of their sale and delivery is uncertain.
“(The black market) closes the option for consumers to have legal tools to make claims, or to know the ingredients that are consumed,” said Oberto Sussman, president of ProVapeo Mx, to local media after the controversy generated on October 19 .
According to the association, if the use and commercialization of electronic cigarettes and vapers were regulated, it would be close to 2 billion pesos that could be collected from taxes; 15,040 million dollars in 2020 was the global value of this industry.
“Responsible marketing is about setting rules and requiring that sellers exclusively sell to seniors. We need a regulated market that guarantees that what we buy meets quality standards ”, declared Tomás O’Gorman, lawyer and founding member of the ProVapeo Mx organization.
Positions in favor:
Both the manufacturers of e-cigarettes and some research establish that vapers have lower amounts of toxins and carcinogens, compared to the smoke of conventional cigarettes.
- The Royal College of Physicians (UK) considered that it reduces the harms of smoking.
- The Public Health England established that vapers are 95% less harmful than cigarettes.
- The US FDA suggested recognizing the potential for product innovation.
Positions against:
In addition to medical investigations, several safety cases were reported in the media, in which electronic cigarettes caused harm to users with the explosion of their batteries.
- The 2017 International Congress of the European Respiratory Society showed that they harden the arteries and increase blood pressure.
- Nicotine & Tobacco Research found that chemicals put into e-cigarettes can cause irritation to the lungs.
- The FDA is investigating whether vaping is linked to the development of seizures, heart problems, and strokes.
A step forward…
On October 19, 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) opened a window to legalize electronic cigarettes and their commercialization throughout the Mexican Republic.
After many years of evading the controversy in which provaping groups, doctors and detractors demanded a definitive resolution, the magistrates finally declared the prohibition of these electronic devices unconstitutional, although this does not mean that any business can still sell them.
“There is still no regulation to carry out these procedures. What the Court does is [establecer] that there is a general criterion that says that the sale cannot be prohibited, but this does not mean that it can be sold in any condition ”, explained Juan José Cirión, president of the México y el Mundo Vapeando (Mexvap) group.
As long as that happens, With the jurisprudence obtained in the resolution of the SCJN, the judges will have to grant protections to the people who adhere to this legal resource to import, distribute and commercialize electronic cigarettes and vapers.
As happened with the recreational use of marijuana, the case passed into the hands of the Legislature for its regulations, so that, until that happens, it is not possible to speak of a certainty between consumers and merchants, but of an advance in route to the regulation of a market that is not new, since until now it has developed in hiding through online shopping and some shopping malls.
“The importance of this is very great from our point of view. No longer can a legislator try to make a ban, “adds the president of Mexvap.
Now, any initiative of the Law in the Chamber of Deputies may give way to the creation of a comprehensive regulation that addresses the type of devices that can be used, their sale, their use in public spaces and the type of authorized liquid substances and even those limited to the health that could be awarded.
In this regard, Organizations of users and merchants of vapers are already working with some legislators to encourage a proposal, as they estimate to present between 150 and 200 protection processes soon so that an idea of equity and equality is taken into account before the right of free expression through electronic cigarettes and vapers.
… and one back
Days after the Supreme Court endorsed the constitutionality of electronic cigarettes and vapers, on October 22, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree to prohibit the import and export of these devices.
According to the document presented in the Official Journal of the Federation, the argument is based on the fact that the right to free personality “should not be an absolute right, as the first chamber of the SCJN has argued.” López Obrador affirms that “when a person, derived from the consumption of these products falls into a situation of illness or permanent disability, a high economic and psycho-emotional impact is generated on their family environment and, additionally, on the country’s health system, which it translates into an individual, family and society involvement in general ”.
Contrary to what has been delimited by the ministers of the SCJN, that there are no scientific studies that show that vapers and electronic cigarettes cause damage to health similar to or worse than tobacco, The Federal Executive stated that the World Health Organization (who), as well as researchers from the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have warned many times about the risks of these devices for children and young people.
“It is valid to limit it when the rights of third parties are infringed, or when superior interests are protected (…) not only do they affect the health of the consumer, but also have repercussions on the right to a healthy environment, as it is an additional source of pollution. and, therefore, it causes effects on the health of individuals who are in the same environment and on society in general, as well as harms the best interests of children, by inducing them to consume harmful substances ”.
“There is a superior interest in protecting the health of individuals by not exposing them to toxic substances, as well as in preventing an increase in diseases attributable to smoking,” states the presidential decree.
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