The wriggle room for electronic or e-cigarettes, which have been marketed as a healthier alternative to the cancer stick, is shrinking rapidly as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week made sweeping new rules that, for the first time, regulate the popular product.
In a 499-page regulatory road map, the FDA banned the sale of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 18. Further, producers of e-cigarettes will now have to register with the FDA and be open for inspections. The new rules also forbid manufacturers from marketing their products as “light” or “mild” unless the FDA permits them; companies cannot give out free samples either.
Cue for Indian policymakers
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), e-cigarettes have become popular across the world in a short span of four-five years. As against conventional cigarettes that burn the tobacco leaf, e-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that vaporise liquid that contains nicotine and provide a sensation similar to inhaling tobacco. There is no combustion[kum'bús-chun(burning,दहन)] involved in the process, a quality the industry has milked while branding the product as a feasible[fee-zu-bul(possible,संभावित)] option to those who want to quit smoking.
The measures recommended by the FDA vindicate['vin-di,keyt(justify,न्यायसंगत)] the cautious stance taken by countries such as India even though there are no laws regulating e-cigarettes in the country as of now. Countries like India — which is a signatory to WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a global treaty for tobacco control — have, however, been cautious by making it amply[amp-lee(fully,पूर्णतया)] clear that e-cigarettes are not a “healthier” option and there is no evidence to say that it helps people who want to quit smoking. “We have an expert committee in place and the issue is whether we should regulate or ban it altogether,” says C.K. Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Not a healthier alternative
One of the most polemical[pu'le-mi-kul(controversial,विवादस्पद)] debates surrounding e-cigarettes is the positioning of it as a method to quit smoking. There are few studies on the health risks and none on the long-term impact of e-cigarettes on health. “We are concerned that the product currently remains unregulated in India. The cardiovascular disease community has been very vocal about the adverse effects of nicotine. There is no evidence whatsoever to say that e-cigarettes are helpful to those who want to quit,” says Dr. Monika Arora, Director, Tobacco Control Division of the Public Health Foundation of India.
The WHO has, for long, maintained that the claim is not based on evidence. There are about 500 e-cigarette brands, and only a few have been analysed. “Some of the analysed brands are known to have very low toxic emissions compared with conventional cigarettes. Some e-cigarettes have few and low levels of toxicants, but some contain levels of cancer-causing agents, such as formaldehyde, that are as high as those in some conventional cigarettes. If smoking a cigarette is like jumping from the 100th floor, using an e-cigarette is certainly like jumping from a lower floor, but which floor? We don’t know,” WHO stated in a bulletin on the topic in 2014.
Courtesy:the hindu
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