Growth of smoking alternatives provides opportunity for bootleggers
Fake vaping products and less harmful smoking alternatives are creeping into the emerging e-cigarette market and pose a real health risk to consumers, retailers say.
The market for vaping devices, liquids and e-cigarettes is booming in the UAE after the black-market industry was brought into the mainstream by regulators in April 2019.
Mandatory regulations set by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology boosted the uptake of less-harmful alternatives to conventional smoking.
But with smoking still considerably cheaper than the alternatives, tobacco remains the drug of choice for many smokers in the UAE.
While that is slowly beginning to change, an emerging counterfeit market is forcing retailers to warn against the dangers of choosing cheaper, fake non-smoking options.
“The counterfeit market has very low standards and ethics, so don’t really care about people’s health or selling to minors,” said Atif Amin, marketing manager for My Vapery, a chain of 14 nationwide e-cigarette shops.
Nick Webster – UAE – 2021-07-23.
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