Health ministry to ban e-cigarettes; stakeholders urge govt to reconsider

For over a year now, the Indian government has been looking to ban e-cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are used by some as a replacement to conventional cigarettes with tobacco. This concept is prevalent in European Union (EU).

It is believed that e-cigarettes are less harmful than regular ones. However, given the health hazards associated with smoking them, the health ministry has decided to ban e-cigarettes. 460 e-cigarette brands are available in India, with various configurations of nicotine delivery in almost 8000 flavours.

Experts have claimed that e-cigarettes are harmful as the nicotine in it is addictive in nature. Many states have already banned e-cigarettes and now the health ministry is planning to ban the import of it too. This was done in states after an advisory issued by the centre. Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Jharkhand banned use of e-cigarettes. The ban is also on flavoured hookah.

Since the time health ministry decided to ban the use of electronic cigarettes, stakeholders from across the world have been trying to prove that e-cigarettes are less harmful and has led many to even quit smoking. Lobby groups have been writing to the government on how people have quit smoking once they replaced their normal cigarettes with electronic cigarettes. They have quoted data from the United States to site the same.