Makers and users
of electronic cigarettes on Tuesday went to war against EU plans to class the
devices as medicinal products, saying any such move would end up harming public
health.
Days before
members of the European Parliament vote on a raft of new anti-smoking measures,
organisers of the Save E-cigs Campaign said medical regulation of the product
would condemn "Europe's seven million e-cigarette users to a premature
death".
"Medicinal
regulation will impose limitations on e-cigarettes ... and will limit their
availability, raise costs and reduce innovation," a statement said.
"If MEPs
(Members of the European Parliament) vote for medicinal regulation, more people
will smoke (tobacco) and we will all be forced back to a nightmare we thought
we had left behind."
Parliament next
week examines new legislation to be introduced across the European Union to
replace rules dating back to 2001, in hopes of reducing the 700,000 deaths
attributed to tobacco across the bloc each year.
The UN's World
Health Organization (WHO) has said the safety of e-cigarettes "has not
been scientifically demonstrated... (and) the potential risks they pose for the
health of users remains undetermined".
But e-cig users
and makers, who say turnover has doubled since 2010, claim the electronic
product represents a "public health revolution that has the potential to
save millions of lives".
Citing academic
studies, they say e-cigarettes are safer than conventional ones and are rapidly
building market share.
Electronic
cigarettes look like their traditional counterparts but powered by a battery,
they vaporise a solution containing nicotine or flavours which the user then
inhales.
The new EU rules
also include a ban on menthol and other flavoured cigarettes as part of a
crackdown on youth smoking while ordering mandatory health warnings on
packaging.
If approved, the
new law could be in force across the 28-nation bloc within three years.
Article Credit: http://www.channelnewsasia.com
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