The puzzling ban of e-cigarettes in India: Restrictions will do more harm than good – Firstpost

Policy should be viewed as tuner knobs, dialling up and down policies based on their success, instead of on-and-off switches. Trawling through the literature on the harm caused by ENDS, one can find a broad consensus that ENDS not only pose significantly less potential harm to users, it also helps smokers reduce usage. It adds that e-cigarettes “contain fewer numbers and lower levels of toxic substances than conventional cigarettes and using e-cigarettes may help adults who smoke conventional cigarettes quit smoking”. A study conducted in India by Professor Rajesh Sharan et al that involved a systematic review of 299 published scientific literature authoritatively conclude that newer generation ENDS was an efficient means of meeting the nicotine demand and reducing tobacco harm. This includes levying appropriate taxes, issuing public use guidelines, providing information about the product, enforcing a minimum age for sales, and individual product restriction surrounding flavour choices and nicotine concentration in tobacco or e-cigarette products.