Government mulls banning e-cigarettes

The government may ban e-cigarettes based on an expert committee’s conclusion that they posses cancer-causing properties, are highly addictive, and do not offer a safer alternative to tobacco-based smoking products.
 
The health ministry is considering a ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), of which e-cigarettes is a prototype, after an evaluated research done by a technical committee found that e-cigarettes are potentially lethal.
 
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Food Safety & Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulation, 2011, some of the states like Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram and Maharashtra have banned e-cigarettes.
 
According to a WHO report, e-cigarettes emit nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco products. The report added though nicotine itself is not a carcinogen, it may function as a tumour promoter and seems to be involved in the biology of malignant disease and neuro-degeneration.
 
An e-cigarette is a battery-operated device that uses liquid nicotine, propylene glycol, water, glycerin and flavour to give a user the sense of smoking a real cigarette.