CAIT in a communication to Harshvardhan calls for regulations for E Cigarettes

New Delhi, July 16 (HS): The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in a communication sent today to Union Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has suggested to form a committee to be set up to deliberate of appropriate regulations for Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) i.e E-Cigarettes . The CAIT has also asked Dr. Harshvardhan to raise the age limit of smokers from 18 years to 25 years of age.

The CAIT in its memorandum to Dr. Harshvardhan said that over the past decades, the Government has instituted several tobacco control measures, however, despite all efforts, the rate at which smoking prevalence is dropping has remained low. Delhi has a smoking prevalence of 11.3%, which is higher than the Indian average of 10.7%.Tobacco smoking is one of the leading factors contributing to preventable disease and death in the world, and each year, over 1.3 million Indians die due to tobacco related illnesses, such as cancer.

It further said that Tobacco harm reduction has emerged as a viable solution to reduce this disease burden by substituting the use of combustible cigarettes with lesser harm alternatives like e-cigarettes. Cigarette smoke exposes smokers to over 400 toxins and 69 known carcinogens, and e-cigarettes, which are an electronic, combustion-free alternative provide users a similar amount of nicotine, without emitting these toxins and cancer-causing chemicals.

It has been established by leading public health bodies like the Public Health England that ENDS are at least 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes and globally, these products are being used to strengthen tobacco control measures of various countries like UK, Canada, New Zealand, etc.

The CAIT strongly believe that allowing sale and access to less harmful alternatives as ENDS, with appropriate regulatory measures and safeguards including age verification, will help in curbing cigarette smoking while ensuring sustained revenue for the traders and the government.

On the other hand, any prohibition on these products will encourage growth of illicit trade through black marketing, and lead to flooding of the market with unsafe counterfeits and spurious products which would pose a risk to the health of consumers. In addition to loss of trade revenue, it will also be difficult for the government to restrict youth access of these illicit products.

Therefore, the CAIT has urged to review all aspects of e-cigarettes, including existing global regulation, emerging supporting evidence showcasing relative safety of ENDS in comparison to cigarettes, and the potential of these products to supplement tobacco control measures in Country to reduce overall non-communicable disease burden. For a holistic view, it would be important to establish an expert member committee to evaluate best practices in terms of regulation and results of scientific studies on ENDS.

While advocating for the formation of an Expert Committee, the CAIT said that it should invite the views of all relevant stakeholders in the ENDS ecosystem to achieve a regulatory model that truly balances the risks and benefits of this product class.  For such study some core issues may be kept in consideration like what measures can be taken to address that youth do not pick up this habit, how do we provide access to quality controlled products to adult smokers and how should we continue to monitor the health effects of ENDS?