People are finally beginning to really understand the damage they are doing themselves by continuing to smoke, and an estimated 365,000 people are expected to try to kick the habit this October. This is mainly due to the great NHS campaign, Stoptober, which gives people the incentive to quit and the support that they need.
Another reason why more and more people are able to make this brave attempt, is thanks to the invention of the e-cigarette, which has been around for longer than many might think.
Electronic Cigarettes
If you were to believe the mass media at this moment in time you would be forgiven for thinking that electronic cigarettes are a relatively new phenomenon. The fact is that the first electronic cigarette was designed back in the 1960s although that particular model never went into mass production. The electronic cigarette that we see today emerged just after the turn-of-the-century and while regulators around the world are only now looking at the issue of electronic cigarettes and potential health issues, they are not a new phenomenon.
There have been a number of calls for further regulation of the electronic cigarette sector and while the Food and Drug Administration in the US is set to report by the end of the year, the European Parliament passed a surprise ruling last week.
European Parliament Ruling
The European Parliament received a recommendation back in July 2013, from a prominent EU committee, that electronic cigarettes should be reclassified as medical devices. This would have led to far stricter regulation for the electronic cigarette industry and initially many people automatically assumed this would be a “done deal”.
As it happened, the European Parliament voted against reclassifying electronic cigarettes as medical devices and instead introduced an array of further restrictions on tobacco cigarettes. It seems as though the comments and opinions of electronic cigarette users and various health authorities around the world seems to have swayed the opinion of the European Parliament. At this moment in time it is also worth noting that there have been no reported medical issues associated with electronic cigarettes and no responsible electronic cigarette retailer or manufacturer is against further testing.
Demonising Electronic Cigarette Retailers
As we mentioned above, no responsible electronic cigarette retailer or manufacturer is against further testing of their products, have no issues with quality control monitoring and are most certainly against the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. If you were to read the mass media you might gather the opinion that this was not the case because the industry as a whole has been demonised by certain parts of the worldwide media.
One issue which is becoming more and more apparent is that some of the cheaper electronic cigarettes are not necessarily manufactured to the standard you would expect and some tests have shown the presence of unexpected elements and substances. Those electronic cigarettes retailers at the higher end of the quality scale are perfectly clear about what they contain, how their devices work and spend significant amounts of money ensuring the quality of their products. There is a need to address the matter of low quality cheap electronic cigarettes which are available today to ensure they do not contain any harmful elements or substances.
Conclusion
It is interesting that if you read the mass media today you could be forgiven for believing that electronic cigarettes are a relatively new phenomenon when in fact they have been around in their current form for over a decade. Now that the US market is set to hit $1 billion in 2013 it seems regulators around the world have woken up to the potential regulatory issues surrounding the use of electronic cigarettes and especially the need to keep them away from minors.
While the European Parliament has rejected calls for further regulatory controls over electronic cigarettes we await the ruling of the Food and Drug Administration in the US. The FDA is a body which is followed by many governments around the world and while the recent shutdown of the US government, due to budgetary issues, could delay the FDA ruling, we should have something by the end of 2013.
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