Context

The world has embraced electronic cigarettes, commonly known as vapes, and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) as harm-reduction alternatives to combustible tobacco used in cigarettes. 

e-cigarettes

• Globally, several tobacco control researchers have concluded that e-cigarettes are at least 95% less hazardous than combustible cigarettes. 

• Studies by Public Health England show that the risk of passive smoking associated with them is also extremely low, as they do not produce tobacco fumes. 

India – Tobacco

• The country bears 12% of the global burden of tobacco users, has 40% of its adults exposed to passive smoking.

• We have shown the lowest quit rate among all countries surveyed in the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2. 

• Since there is empirical evidence to suggest that countries, which have regulated ENDS, have witnessed a decline in smoking rates, India needs to take note and reconsider its stance on the matter.

Global experience

• According to a study conducted by The British Medical Journal, as many as 68 countries, including the UK, US, Canada, France, and Japan, are using a range of regulatory mechanisms to enhance the discretionary power of their adult citizens. 

• These include laws that prohibit sales of ENDS to minors, regulate advertising and promotion, impose limits on nicotine concentration, and place checks on product quality and battery standards. 

• The UK and France have witnessed a decline in their smoking rates, with the UK marking the lowest at 14.9% in 2017, in comparison to 19.8% in 2011, and a record 1.6 million people in France having moved away from combustible cigarettes over the past two years. 

• Sweden has achieved the lowest rates of smoking-caused illnesses in Europe, mostly due to a low-risk form of smokeless tobacco called snus. 

• Japan has reduced cigarette sales by a third in just three years through product substitution. 

• New Zealand is promoting ENDS by launching a website called Vaping Facts to clarify myths and make the country smoking-free by 2025.

• Canada, the UAE, and Seychelles have reversed their bans to regulate the product and allow access to adult smokers. 

Ban to regulate

• Country-wise e-cigarette policies differ and the outcomes of their experience so far could inform a regulatory system in India.

• These countries have regulatory mechanisms to monitor the manufacture, sale, labeling, and promotion of ENDS products to enable people to switch and deter unintended consequences. 

• Canada has created a separate provision for vaping products under its existing tobacco control regulations to ensure that the category of modern products is regulated but these are more accessible than old tobacco products.

• The World Health Organization and the EU have acted in favor of a regulatory framework instead of a blanket ban. They have provided detailed policy suggestions for countries to restrict producing, marketing, selling and using e-cigarettes. 

Course for India

• With a smoking population at over 100 million, India is not only a lucrative market for e-cigarette players, but also has more to gain from a public health standpoint if ENDS are permitted.

• A large chunk of India’s healthcare expenditure goes into the treatment and management of preventable diseases, including tobacco-related illnesses. India will not only gain economically but also find better solutions to combat the voluntary inhalation of harmful substances.

• India needs to think of vaping as part of a solution and learn from the empirical evidence being provided by various countries.

• The crisis of addiction has not been responsive to various measures adopted over the decades. 

• India is currently the second-largest tobacco consumer in the world.

CONCLUSION

• A ban on a widely accepted alternative to smoking regular cigarettes not only prevents consumers from making a less harmful choice, but it may also result in an illicit trade turning rampant. 

• We need to check the entry of dangerous counterfeits and deny vulnerable groups access to these products via the black market.