NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday issued an “advisory” to all states and Union Territories to not allow the sale, distribution and usage of e-cigarettes, vape, flavoured hookahs, e-Sheesha and e-Nicotine-products in larger public health interest. The move comes following an expert panel’s recommendations that these products contain carcinogens and do not offer a safe alternative to tobacco smoking.
Sources in the Ministry for Health and Family Welfare said the advisory was being sent out noting that products such as e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah contain hazardous substances and have not been approved by the government. ENDS, of which e-cigarette is a prototype, is a battery operated device that uses liquid nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings and water among other substances, to give the user the sense of real cigarette.
“A technical committee evaluated findings of a WHO 2016 report which had shown some surprising findings saying e-cigarette is lethal and can lead to many serious health conditions,” an official said.
In its report, the committee had pointed out that “though companies claim that e-cigarettes help give up smoking, in reality, they help initiate cigarette smoking as they deliver nicotine in an attractive way and attract youth.” It also said consumers of e-cigarette are largely young adults.
“We are looking into the laws to see how the import, manufacture, distribution, sale, including online promotion, advertising of nontherapeutic nicotine as an extractor in chemical form can be prevented,” the official said. Some states, including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, had already banned e-cigarettes invoking either Drugs and Cosmetics Act, or the Poisons Act.