Electronic cigarettes, a vapour device that delivers nicotine minus the smoke besides all products described as “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)”, which are easily available online, might be banned soon in the country.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan made this intention of the Government clear while addressing global tobacco control experts at the 45th Union World Conference on lung Health in Barcelona, Spain recently.He said the e-cigarettes and similar products push children towards the tobacco habit eventually via nicotine dependence.
The move follows recommendations of an expert panel on e-cigarettes constituted by the Health Ministry which called for a blanket ban on the product, saying its safety has not been established.Harsh Vardhan also pointed out that banning ENDS should not be an end in itself. “The success of a ban strategy will depend on how we agree to control illicit trade and cross border sales of such products. The use of the Internet for this trade should also be curbed.”
India is home to 275 million tobacco users. The use of smokeless tobacco has become a major public health menace, which, if not checked in time with strong measures, could become a national threat.Vinayak Mohan Prasad, project manager for Tobacco Control in WHO in Switzerland said that smart marketing and inadequate information on the nicotine content in e-cigarettes has created a false impression that these devices are not as harmful as regular cigarettes.
India should ban e-cigarettes before the problem assumes the shape and size that it has in countries such as the US and UK,” said Monika Arora, director, Public Health Foundation of India.