2 Reasons Why The Government Banned E-cigarettes In India Central government has banned the production, manufacturing, import and export of e-cigarettes in India.

Central government has approved an ordinance prohibiting the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in India. According to the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, the decision has been passed considering few harmful consequences of consuming e-cigarettes. Its consumption has led to the large figures related to cancer or even death.

WHO has also urged member countries to take appropriate steps including prohibiting these products. These products are usually marketed as being safer alternatives for conventional cigarettes but such notions of safety are being proven false.

According to News18, On Tuesday, New York became the second US state to ban flavoured e-cigarettes, following several vaping-linked deaths that have raised fears about a product long promoted as less harmful than smoking.

"This is a great step towards the betterment of health in India. Being a responsible citizen, I too, would want the adults and youth of our country should live a healthy life. Vaping leads to several lungs diseases which affect youths severely. We have observed high figures in the patients related to lung cancer or lung diseases of the adolescent age due to the consumption of e-cigarettes or e-hookah. I strongly condemn the usage of it and proudly appreciate the government for its take against vaping in India" said, Dr Himanshu, HOD, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Specialist, Pratiksha Hospital, Gurugram.

Reasons To Ban E-cigarettes

• Safety measures towards (for) youth: It has been mentioned in the records that since the last 15 years, consumption of e-cigarettes among the students with the age between 15 to 20 years has been increasing rapidly from 26 percent to 45 percent. According to ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), there were more than 14 lakh cancer patients due to e-cigarette smoking in India.

• Eradicate illegal brands from Indian market: Records tells that since past three years, around 40 brands have been dealing in e-cigarette business in India. Also, according to the Finance Minister, 400 brands across the globe, are involved in the production of e-cigarettes.

Coercive Measures

According to the release, upon promulgation of the Ordinance, any production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale (including online sale), distribution or advertisement (including online advertisement) of e-cigarettes shall be a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment of up to one year or fine up to INR 1 lakh or both for the first offence; and imprisonment of up to three years and fine up to INR 5 lakh for a subsequent offence. Storage of electronic cigarettes shall also be punishable with imprisonment up to 6 months or fine up to INR 50,000 or both.

Available literature suggests that these products may act as gateway products to induce non-smokers, especially youth and adolescents, to nicotine-use, leading to addiction and subsequent use of conventional tobacco products. E-cigarettes are usually promoted by the industry as smoking cessation aids but their efficacy and safety as a quitting aid has not yet been established.

According to the Minister, there are over 3 million regular users of e-cigarettes in the United States. In the years 2011 and 2015, there have been over 900 per cent growth in the use of e-cigarettes in the US. Recent reports tell that few students falling in the mid school age gap died due to excessive usage of e-cigarettes in India.