Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Published : April 24, 2014 11:46 PM IST
The United States Food and Drug Administration is proposing regulations to govern the sale and advertisement of electronic cigarettes, reports WEBMD. The new regulations will give the FDA the right to regulate e-cigs like regular cigarettes which would include a ban of sale to minors. It would also bring under its purview various other products like cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels and hookah. They would be required under the law to register with the FDA, market products after a review, only make health claims if the FDA approves and not distribute free samples.
The new proposed regulations would also give the FDA oversight of numerous tobacco products that up to now have had no federal oversight. Those products include cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels and waterpipe (or hookah) tobacco. It would also prohibit sales through vending machines (unless minors don't enter the building). E-cigarette use doubled among middle and high school students, according to US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. While some argue that e-cigs are great way to get people to quit smoking, others believe e-cigarettes just aren't that effective.
Writing for TheHealthSite.com, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi a fervent anti-tobacco campaigner said: 'Electronic cigarettes are being increasingly used by youngsters as a safer alternative to regular tobacco cigarettes (though they are banned in Maharashtra and Punjab). It's available in malls and online stores and was even endorsed by Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor as a safe alternative to regular cigarettes. The marketing campaign to promote e-cigarettes is slick and clever and is targeting the youth of metros and this is bound to have huge health repercussions. We've still not recognised the threat e-cigarettes pose and haven't realised that it is going to become a big public health issue.'
What's an e-cig?
An electronic cigarette is a device that mimics the entire smoking process by producing a mist which has the same sensation (sometimes the same flavour too) of smoking. The concept of an electronic cigarette has been around since the 60s but tobacco consumption wasn't really considered hazardous back then and it took until 2003 for the first smokeless e-cigarette to hit the market.
Electronic cigarettes manufacturers claim that they are like real cigarettes except that there are no hazardous health implications because there is no combustion, no tobacco and no smoking. Also since there is no passive smoking, second hand smoke and pollution due to butt litter or smoke.
What's in an e-cig?
The e-cigarette basically consists of three parts: Cartridge, Atomizer and Power supply
The cartridge's a mouthpiece (like a cigarette's butt) that usually holds the liquid that is to be vaporized. The atomizer serves as a heating element and vaporizes the liquid and each of them contains a power supply like a chargeable plug, USB drive or batteries.
An e-cigarette produces nicotine infused vapour and though it looks like smoke is actually atomised air. Some e-cigs replace this nicotine vapour with other flavours like vanilla, chocolate, etc. though certain anti-smoking groups feel this could encourage minors to smoke. As a smoking cessation tool some manufactures even look to replicate the flavour of particular brands like Marlboro, Camel, etc.
Are they really less harmful?
E-cigs are primary used as a smoking replacement or a smoking cessation device to help smokers quit though the lack of studies and its relative novelty make it hard to judge its health effects. According to United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), known carcinogens were detected into the nicotine-cartridges and there were also concerns it could be marketed to younger people. However FDA methods have been derided in various journals for lack of evidence and which claimed that the nicotine content was a lot lower than actual cigarettes as were the health hazards.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on the other hand have voiced their opinion that though e-cigs are usually marketed as devices for nicotine replacement therapy there were no studies to back up that claim and has refused to endorse the device.
Research carried out at the University of East London suggests that nicotine content doesn't seem to be of central importance but other smoking related mannerisms like taste, vapour resembling smoke and hand movements helps reduce discomfort related with tobacco abstinence in the short term.
In an online survey conducted by the University of Alberta, School of Public Health in 2009 among 303 smokers, it was found that e-cigarette substitution for tobacco cigarettes resulted in reduced health problems, the kind that usually ails smokers (less cough, improved ability to exercise, -improved sense of taste and smell).
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