Muscat: The Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) has warned electronic cigarettes and hookahs are banned in the Sultanate of Oman as per a ministerial decision of 2015.
The violators are subject to an administrative fine of not less than RO50, and not more than RO1,000, and the penalty is doubled in case of recurrence.
If this violation continues, an administrative fine of OMR 50 will be imposed for each day the violation continues, provided that the total fine does not exceed RO2,000, considering the health and safety of the consumer.
Meanwhile, Dr Ahmed bin Hamad al Wahaibi, a senior consultant of family medicine at the Ministry of Health, has said in a statement that nearly 20 per cent of adults in the Sultanate of Oman smoke and this is a large and dangerous number, as the global survey showed for the age group of 13-15 years.
As for the electronic cigarette (vape), the study indicates that 5.3 per cent of students smoke it and that 26.6 per cent of the students bought it from within the Sultanate of Oman.
Al Wahaibi said “When a person smokes cigarettes or whatever form of tobacco is, the body responds immediately to the chemical nicotine present in the smoke and causes the following symptoms in the short term: high blood pressure, increased heart rate, increased blood flow. The outside of the heart, narrowing of the arteries.”
The cost of treating a smoker who has a respiratory infection and needs to be hospitalised for at least one day is estimated at approximately RO 355, as the cost of treating diseases caused by smoking is not limited to the disease itself, but also includes sick leave and absence from work due to illness, which causes the depletion of the workforce, which loses many of its cadres due to smoking.
According to the global tobacco industry watchdog, “Oman does not provide any incentives to the tobacco industry to operate its business.”
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