I agree that e-cigarettes should not be sold to young people and in
the UK at least, although this is not required by law, reputable vendors
do not sell to young people or non-smokers.
All e-cigarette users want to know that products are safe, although
current legislation provides for unsafe products to be removed from the
market and Trading Standards have the power to prosecute.
There is no real, independent evidence that young people are
attracted to electronic cigarettes unless they are already tobacco smokers. As NRT, which has an approximately 95% failure rate, is
authorised to be given to children from age 12 and at least one school
in the UK is giving NRT patches to any child aged 12 and over without
informing parents or teachers, non-smoking children are using NRT
patches in this school as a ‘badge of honour’.
Medicines regulation allows dangerous substances to be given to children
if the risk/benefit equation is thought to make the risk worth the
benefit and they do not have the warnings required by law for eliquids.
Flavours are very important in e-cigarettes, in part because nicotine
is virtually odourless and tasteless. People who initially switch tend
to prefer tobacco, later they explore the many flavours they can enjoy
and avoid tobacco. Personally I would have no objection if some flavours
were not permitted as I do not like them, but for other adults candy
and bubblegum (for example) flavours are all that keep them from
returning to smoking. These flavours were introduced at the request and
demand from adult e-cigarette users, not to attract children.
Legislation that prevented smokers switching, such as reducing
nicotine content to a percentage too low to satisfy smokers from
switching no matter how many cigarettes they smoke would keep those
people smoking and force others back to cigarettes.
The e-cigarette that looks like a cigarette is 1st generation
technology. Many smokers are drawn to them both because they do resemble
cigarettes so make the transition easier and because they are the most
readily available. However now extremely efficient devices exist that
bear no resemblance to cigarettes. Legislation could stifle innovation.
The threat of banning/medicalising e-cigarettes has caused panic
buying and stockpiling the diluted nicotine base used to make eliquids.
As nicotine is readily available although not necessarily of the
pharmaceutical grade used in e-cigarette liquids this could lead to a
self-fulfilling prophesy. Too much regulation would lead to people
extracting their own nicotine, obtaining agricultural, buying on a new
black market, if they are desperate not to return to smoking, or just
returning to smoking.
I feel that this addition to the TPD is to protect the interests of
pharmaceutical and tobacco companies as well as governments obtaining
tax revenue from cigarette sales.
The only RAPEX report listed that related to eliquids was mislabelling. The rest were electrical faults and missing CE labels.
You are correct that requiring medical licensing for a consumer
product that is not a medicine is the wrong way to go, but the more
people learn of e-cigarettes the more smokers will switch. There is a
possibility that if General Product Safety is robustly applied and an
age limit is placed, that cigarettes could become a thing of the past.
Of course we do not want children to start vaping instead of smoking,
but there is little or no evidence that this happens. Children prefer
tobacco. But I, personally, would rather my child used e-cigarettes than
real ones. We do know the very real dangers of smoking and all but some
flavours have been used in medicines (some for inhalation) for
decades.
Although the WHO states that nicotine is highly addictive we do not yet
know if that is the case in humans. All studies on smoking and addiction
are based on tobacco and smoking which contains many alkaloids. Many
people who switch to e-cigarettes experience some of the withdrawal
symptoms of stopping smoking, although they appear to be less severe.
I believe that the only truly independent and unbiased studies are
being performed by Prof. Konstantinos Farsalinos . Several of his papers
and studies have been published, another is due to be published shortly
and he is conducting further research but, due to lack of funding by
pharmaceutical, tobacco or governments (possibly because his reports are
completely unbiased) he has had to appeal for donations from the
general public.
All e-cigarette users want to know that products are safe, although current legislation provides for unsafe products to be removed from the market and Trading Standards have the power to prosecute.
There is no real, independent evidence that young people are attracted to electronic cigarettes unless they are already tobacco smokers. As NRT, which has an approximately 95% failure rate, is authorised to be given to children from age 12 and at least one school in the UK is giving NRT patches to any child aged 12 and over without informing parents or teachers, non-smoking children are using NRT patches in this school as a ‘badge of honour’.
Medicines regulation allows dangerous substances to be given to children if the risk/benefit equation is thought to make the risk worth the benefit and they do not have the warnings required by law for eliquids.
Flavours are very important in e-cigarettes, in part because nicotine is virtually odourless and tasteless. People who initially switch tend to prefer tobacco, later they explore the many flavours they can enjoy and avoid tobacco. Personally I would have no objection if some flavours were not permitted as I do not like them, but for other adults candy and bubblegum (for example) flavours are all that keep them from returning to smoking. These flavours were introduced at the request and demand from adult e-cigarette users, not to attract children.
Legislation that prevented smokers switching, such as reducing nicotine content to a percentage too low to satisfy smokers from switching no matter how many cigarettes they smoke would keep those people smoking and force others back to cigarettes.
The e-cigarette that looks like a cigarette is 1st generation technology. Many smokers are drawn to them both because they do resemble cigarettes so make the transition easier and because they are the most readily available. However now extremely efficient devices exist that bear no resemblance to cigarettes. Legislation could stifle innovation.
The threat of banning/medicalising e-cigarettes has caused panic buying and stockpiling the diluted nicotine base used to make eliquids. As nicotine is readily available although not necessarily of the pharmaceutical grade used in e-cigarette liquids this could lead to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Too much regulation would lead to people extracting their own nicotine, obtaining agricultural, buying on a new black market, if they are desperate not to return to smoking, or just returning to smoking.
I feel that this addition to the TPD is to protect the interests of pharmaceutical and tobacco companies as well as governments obtaining tax revenue from cigarette sales.
The only RAPEX report listed that related to eliquids was mislabelling. The rest were electrical faults and missing CE labels.
You are correct that requiring medical licensing for a consumer product that is not a medicine is the wrong way to go, but the more people learn of e-cigarettes the more smokers will switch. There is a possibility that if General Product Safety is robustly applied and an age limit is placed, that cigarettes could become a thing of the past.
Of course we do not want children to start vaping instead of smoking, but there is little or no evidence that this happens. Children prefer tobacco. But I, personally, would rather my child used e-cigarettes than real ones. We do know the very real dangers of smoking and all but some flavours have been used in medicines (some for inhalation) for decades.
Although the WHO states that nicotine is highly addictive we do not yet know if that is the case in humans. All studies on smoking and addiction are based on tobacco and smoking which contains many alkaloids. Many people who switch to e-cigarettes experience some of the withdrawal symptoms of stopping smoking, although they appear to be less severe.
I believe that the only truly independent and unbiased studies are being performed by Prof. Konstantinos Farsalinos . Several of his papers and studies have been published, another is due to be published shortly and he is conducting further research but, due to lack of funding by pharmaceutical, tobacco or governments (possibly because his reports are completely unbiased) he has had to appeal for donations from the general public.