Public attitudes towards e-cigarette regulations and policies in Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: There are various approaches to e-cigarette regulation globally. In Taiwan, the term “e-cigarette” is not found in existing regulations, but health authorities apply explanatory notes derived from standing laws to e-cigarette. Taiwan health authority is in the process of regulative reform to include “e-cigarette” in standing tobacco law. Our objective was to investigate the public’s attitudes towards potential policy options for e-cigarette regulations in Taiwan.Design and Methods: We conduct an anonymous online survey in the general public. A questionnaire in Mandarin was posted on the website Stop-tabac.ch between July and November 2017.Results: Participants (n=236) were mostly male, young, highly educated, employed, and smoked or had smoked cigarettes in the past. Half were e-cigarette users. Four measures banning ecigarettes, labelling content and nicotine level and establishing a maximum-allowable nicotine level were supported by more than 70% of participants. Vaping status was strongly associated with support for most measures after controlling for other factors in multivariate models.Conclusion: We documented attitudes of a self-selected sample of the general public in Taiwan regarding e-cigarette regulations and policies. These results may be useful to design studies in more representative samples and to inform e-cigarette regulations, policies and education campaigns.Significance for public healthThere are various approaches to e-cigarette regulation globally. The term “e-cigarette” is not found in existing regulations, but Taiwanese health authorities apply explanatory notes derived from standing laws to regulate e-cigarette. In Taiwan, there is no e-cigarette approved, but used. The Taiwanese health authorities face the challenge of how to best regulate it. Little is known about public attitudes toward current e-cigarette legislation. In addition, no literature is available about public attitudes to e-cigarette control measures that either applied already in other countries for e-cigarette or in Taiwan for tobacco control. This is the first study to examine the public attitudes towards e-cigarette legislations in Taiwan. Our findings on specific policy issues are useful in terms of identifying the need for information and education among policy makers, health professionals and the public, in Taiwan particularly, and in international community.