Edit:
Electronic and herbal cigarettes will also have to carry health warnings under the European-wide shake-up designed to make smoking less attractive to young people.
Guess I was right after all.
Am I the only person in the world who believes that in some point in the future e-cigarettes will be banned from sale because of health hazards?
I was wondering about this when a local restaurant started selling them for use inside the restaurant.
You can get hold of them anywhere nowadays with little or no monitoring of the harmful chemicals they contain.
I did a quick google search and it appears that my worries are justified – one of the very first links I found was http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184014/Ministers-warn-electronic-cigarettes-unsafe-lead-health-problems.html (“‘Electronic cigarettes could be unsafe and lead to health problems,’ ministers warn”).
A quote from Health minister Simon Burns said: “The available data suggest that there can be great variability in the content of electronic cigarettes, both in the amount of nicotine present and also in relation to other potentially toxic substances.
Some electronic cigarettes have been tested by local authority trading standards departments and have been found to pose a potential danger to consumers.”
I am a non-smoker, and I will be avoiding this restaurant because of their policy from now on. I don’t wish to smell smoke, fake or otherwise, while I am eating – especially when the government has given health warnings about them and the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency will make a decision next Spring on whether to introduce stricter checks.
The World Health Organization stated in September 2008 that no rigorous, peer-reviewed studies have been conducted showing that the electronic cigarette is a safe and effective nicotine replacement therapy. WHO does not discount the possibility that the electronic cigarette could be useful as a smoking cessation aid, but insisted that claims that electronic cigarettes can help smokers quit need to be backed up by clinical studies and toxicity analyses and operate within the proper regulatory framework.
In May 2009 the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis tested 19 varieties of electronic cigarette cartridges produced by two vendors NJoy and Smoking Everywhere. Diethylene glycol, a poisonous and hygroscopic liquid, was detected in one of the cartridges manufactured by Smoking Everywhere . Tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), known cancer-causing agents, were detected in all of the cartridges from one brand and two of the cartridges from the other brand. Nicotine can also be traced in some claimed nicotine-free cartridge. Further concerns were raised over inconsistent amounts of nicotine delivered when drawing on the device. Some cartridges were found to contain “tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans—anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine—were detected in a majority of the samples tested.”
In July 2009, the FDA publicly discouraged the use of electronic cigarettes and raised concerns that electronic cigarettes may be marketed to young people and lack appropriate health warnings.
The Electronic Cigarette Association criticized that the FDA testing was too “narrow to reach any valid and reliable conclusions.” Exponent, Inc., commissioned by NJOY to review the FDA’s study in July 2009, objected to the FDA analysis of electronic cigarettes lacking comparisons to other FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapy products where similar levels of TSNA were detected. Exponent concluded that the FDA’s study did not support the claims of potential adverse health effects from the use of electronic cigarettes.
Furthermore, FDA methods “have been lambasted in journals” by some medical and health research experts who noted the potentially harmful chemicals were measured at “about one million times lower concentrations than are conceivably related to human health.”
On 27 March 2009, Health Canada issued an advisory against electronic cigarettes. The advisory stated “Although these electronic smoking products may be marketed as a safer alternative to conventional tobacco products and, in some cases, as an aid to quitting smoking, electronic smoking products may pose risks such as nicotine poisoning and addiction.”
In Latvia, the Ministry of Health has warned that the e-cigarette can cause harm to cardiovascular, hepatic and renal systems, however, e-cigarettes are legal, and are sold in most shopping centers and at Riga’s airport, as well as via the internet to individuals at least 18 years old.
In Hong Kong the sale and possession of nicotine-based electronic cigarette, classified as a Type I Poison, is govered under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. Sale or possession is not authorized and both considered are punishable with a fine of up to HK$100,000 and/or a prison term of 2 years. However, the law does not cover any non-nicotine inhaler.
In Lebanon, the council of ministers has banned the sale and use of electronic cigarettes starting 21 September 2011.
In Mexico, the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks, informed that according to Mexican Law, the selling and promotion of non-tobacco objects that include elements generally identified with tobacco products, are forbidden.
In Pakistan, the import and sale of electronic cigarettes is legal, but Pakistan Medical and Dental council categorizes the current health safety assessments about e-cigarettes not to be yet satisfactory.
In Panama, importation, distribution and sale have been prohibited since June 2009. The Ministry of Health cites the FDA findings as their reason for the ban.
In Singapore, the sale and import of electronic cigarettes, even for personal consumption, is illegal. According to Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, electronic cigarettes were the industry’s attempt to attract new users and were marketed to appeal to younger customers, including women.
In the United Arab Emirates, sale and import of electronic cigarettes, even for personal consumption, is illegal. Items will be confiscated upon arrival.
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