At the fag end of the day, smoking remains injurious

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to impose a ban on e-cigarettes to save the nation from the harmful effects of vaping. So far, this step is the most potential one across the globe as the prohibition will include a hefty fine ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and jail term of up to three years for offenders.

What is an e-cigarette?

E-cigarette or electronic cigarette is basically a battery-operated device that emits doses of vaporised nicotine which aims to provide a replacement for smoking tobacco but is also seen as an initiation product by youth without the habit of smoking.

The device do not burn tobacco. It has cartridges filled with nicotine and other chemicals. It basically heats up the liquid chemicals into a vapour or steam that a person inhales -- that is why it is also known as vaping.

Mostly containing flavourings, sometimes nicotine, e-cigarette is also known as hookah pen, mods, vape pen, etc.

Across the United States, seven deaths have been linked to vaping-related illnesses, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and this has spurred a demand for its ban or tighter regulation in many places.

Matter of concern

Even though, advocates of e-cigarettes say vaping is far less harmful than smoking tobacco, the harms of smoking vapes cannot be ruled out.

Diacetyl and other harmful chemicals and toxins ominously present in alternative tobacco products may cause serious health problems, including cancer.

Recently, a California man became the latest victim of vaping-related illness in the United States which further instigated health agencies to investigate the outbreak of lung injuries associated with vaping.

E-cigarettes and the world

New York just passed an order to ban flavours. The factual justification to that is solely because two flavours (caramel and popcorn) have been found to destroy the lungs because of the chemical diacetyl in it.

Another US state, Michigan, also gave an ultimatum to the retailers with a time period of 14 days to stop selling flavoured tobacco products under emergency rules imposed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human services.

In the UK, the chemical diacetyl itself is banned in e-cigarette under the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) in 2016. Hence there are no potential looming threats. Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England, previously said that although they were aware of the risks, "there is widespread academic and clinical consensus that while not without risk, vaping is far less harmful than smoking".

Apparently, in 2018 Public Health England (PHE) review, they found that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes and was actually helping 20,000 people quit a year. For the agency, the matter of concern hung around false beliefs that vaping is as harmful as smoking.

Most European countries impose same restrictions on e-cigarettes as on tobacco, which refrain the smoker from smoking in closed public spaces, banning advertisements of shops, and restricting under-18 population from buying it. The regulation is tighter in Europe than in the United States.

As of now, Russia and Switzerland treat e-cigarettes like regular products, but both countries have draft laws to bring a regulation in line.

In China, the retailers have pulled out Juul's products from both physical and online stores, according to a Bloomberg report. However, the reason is not clear why they did so, creating the confusion whether the trade war between the US and China is responsible or not.

Facts and figures

With an active 120 million smokers, India is home to the second largest smoker population after China. The country also accounts for 83% of the world's heart disease patients with a whooping number of more than one million people dying each year due to tobacco-related illnesses in the country.

Backlash

No alternative or safer option to quit smoking has been provided by the government so far, triggering a backlash from the users and stakeholders who question the government on its failure to curb smoking altogether.

Therefore, the swiftness in action that the Centre has shown regarding e-cigarettes also raises the question why no step is being taken against the tobacco industries of our country in order to save the youth and others from the perils of smoking.