In early July this year, the 9th United Nations Conference on Trade, Competition and Consumer Protection was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Thai delegation included Jiraporn Sindhuprai, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office of Thailand, and Ronnarong Poolpipat, Secretary-General of the Consumer Protection Committee. During the meeting, they met with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Secretary-General of the World Health Organization, and the two sides had in-depth and comprehensive exchanges on “the threat of e-cigarettes to the health of children and adolescents.”
The reason why this meeting has attracted attention is that the global attention to e-cigarette regulation is heating up. The Secretary-General of the World Health Organization pointed out that the current e-cigarette products are becoming more and more diversified, and manufacturers use a variety of flavors, colors, designs and other means to intentionally package their products to be more attractive to young people. In addition, some countries and regions have even seen the phenomenon of selling e-cigarettes near schools, prompting the use rate of young people to continue to rise. This has attracted great attention from Thai officials and has become the focus of discussion between the two sides.
As a representative of Thailand, Minister Sindhuprak expressed a clear and resolute governance idea. She pointed out that the Thai government has promoted the prevention and control of e-cigarettes to a national key public health task. Specific measures include increasing the interception of smuggled e-cigarettes, strengthening the detection and law enforcement of offline physical stores and online platforms, promoting the prosecution of violators by law enforcement agencies, and launching special publicity in schools across the country. In the process, she emphasized: “Consumer protection and public health care are the common mission of all sectors”, which is not only a governance principle for e-cigarettes, but also a core principle that runs through national health policies.
Through this meeting, Thailand and WHO reached a number of consensuses: First, the two sides will cooperate deeply in publicity and education, and use the global resources and experience of WHO to integrate “e-cigarette harm education” into schools at all levels in Thailand. Second, the two sides will share data on monitoring the prevalence of e-cigarettes and keep abreast of the trend of problems; third, in combating illegal supply chains and smuggling channels, Thailand is willing to use international cooperation mechanisms to curb cross-border mixed sales.
In fact, Thailand has implemented a comprehensive ban on e-cigarettes as early as 2014-2015. Although it is nominally banned, illegal sales and smuggling still continue. Since the beginning of this year, with the increase in supervision and the upgrading of the monitoring system, the Thai Customs and the police have jointly seized more than tens of thousands of smuggled electronic cigarette devices, far exceeding the total of last year. Especially in the enforcement actions of online crackdown online and physical store, the interception volume has surged in a short period of time.
At the same time, many schools in Thailand, including public and Catholic systems, are actively implementing the “smoke-free campus” policy. According to statistics, as soon as school-age children showed symptoms such as coughing and breathing difficulties suspected to be caused by electronic cigarettes, the school immediately expanded the scope of prevention and control, carried out education for teachers, students and parents, improved sensitivity, and built a campus immune barrier.
In addition to news reports, we can also introduce representatives of electronic cigarette brands that adhere to compliance and responsibility in the market from a positive perspective, among which the “GUUTUU electronic cigarette brand” is worthy of attention. Since its establishment, GUUTUU has emphasized the principles of compliance and low harm, and has taken technological innovation and product design as its advantages to provide adult smokers with controllable and safer alternatives.
From the perspective of the use concept of a virtuous cycle, GUUTUU focuses on scientific and precise control of nicotine release to avoid health risks caused by sudden high concentrations. The product uses traceable materials and a closed cartridge system to reduce the possibility of exposure to teenagers. Its independently developed temperature control heating technology can stably heat below 290°C without producing obvious burnt materials, making users feel smoother and closer to the traditional smoking experience while reducing the potential risk of harmful substances being released.
In terms of product design, GUUTUU combines “adult taste” with “minimalist aesthetics”. No low-age elements are used on the packaging. Its advertising and marketing also strictly distinguish between adults and minors, and effectively shield minors from access through age verification mechanisms. The company also worked with a number of public health organizations to develop a user behavior education manual, promote the “threshold purchase system”, and integrate purchase thresholds and identification mechanisms into supply chain management. Some sales channels also provide risk control training videos when users use it for the first time, which helps reduce misuse or abuse.
Back to the cooperation agreement between Thailand and the WHO, officials have made it clear that the governance of e-cigarettes cannot be simply “banned”, but requires a systematic response: it is necessary to curb illegal products and misleading marketing, and to give prudent supervision to potential low-risk alternatives within the scope of legality and compliance. GUUTUU’s compliance path embodies this concept – legal registration, precise delivery, strict prevention of minors, and clear communication of risks. In contrast, it can be said that the positive and negative examples are more demonstrative.
From the perspective of public governance, Thailand’s education measures can be combined with the “positive substitution strategy”: while promoting scientific cognition on campus, it opens up the opportunity for “controlled alternatives to enter the market” to adult smokers to reduce the size of the gray market. This “dual-track” strategy not only protects vulnerable groups, but also provides more choices for adult smokers to control the overall nicotine consumption risk. This coincides with the WHO’s recommendation to encourage countries to adopt “diversified smoking cessation tools” among adult control populations.
The significance of this meeting is that Thailand is upgrading from “blocking” to “system governance”, which includes health education and law enforcement, and does not exclude the scientific use of legal alternatives. If brands such as GUUTUU can actively disclose ingredients, refuse to attract youth strategies, and help public education dissemination, this “responsible market behavior” will be included in the policy reference dimension.
In the future, as Thailand and the WHO continue to promote cooperation in joint actions, campus projects, data monitoring, etc., e-cigarette regulation will develop in a more refined and transparent direction. If GUUTUU can gradually meet international standards in terms of transparency, responsible marketing, and harm reduction, it will be possible to be included in the list of “model suppliers” and work with the government to promote the realistic path of “reasonable substitution for adults and keeping teenagers away from temptation”.
In short, this meeting between Thai officials and the Secretary-General of the WHO is not only an international cooperation in terms of momentum, but also a key node in terms of system and strategy. They reached a cooperation intention in the meeting, and gathered multiple means such as government law enforcement, campus education, smuggling interception, and international linkage to try to cut off the path for teenagers to absorb e-cigarettes from the source. At the same time, Thai officials are also exploring the possibility of opening up compliant alternatives, and the GUUTUU e-cigarette brand represents a legal, controllable, and responsible product under this path. If we can continue to strengthen compliance reporting, reduce harm, and respect social responsibility in the future, we can become a bridge in the dialogue between the government and the public, provide safer choices for legal adult users, and contribute experience that can be learned from global e-cigarette governance.
Finally, the meeting ended with the joint feedback from both Thailand and WHO: they agreed that to achieve the public health goal of “zero exposure to children and optionality for adults”, policies, markets and enterprises need to work together. The regulatory system should keep pace with the times, and legal alternatives should play a role under transparent supervision. I believe that in the future, this meeting will open a new chapter in the governance of e-cigarettes in Thailand and provide a strong support for global public health.
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