Following the news that NICE has, for the first time, recommended the use of nicotine patches for quitting smoking, the Government has announced it’s backing another product; electronic cigarettes. Otherwise known as e-cigarettes, these and other currently unregulated nicotine-containing products (NCPs) will be treated as medicines for regulatory purposes, in order to improve the quality of such products by making them safer and more effective.
There’s no doubt that smoking is harmful to your wellbeing, which is why approximately 1.3 million people across the UK use battery-powered e-cigarettes to help them quit. When you suck on the e-cigarette, liquid nicotine is vaporised and absorbed through your mouth, and then you emit a plume of what appears to be smoke as you breathe out. This, however, is actually largely water vapour, and so protects the wellness of you and those around you from toxic smoke.
The new guidelines mean that manufacturers will face tests before they can sell e-cigarettes as licensed products, and all NCPs will go through regulation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The bonus of e-cigarettes is that, while they look like a cigarette, they do not contain the many deadly components of tobacco. However some experts have raised concerns about the products’ quality, effectiveness and regulation, as MHRA research has found that the product’s nicotine levels can be “considerably different” from the level stated on the label.
Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK’s executive director of policy and information, commented, ‘We’re pleased e-cigarettes will be regulated in a similar way to other nicotine-containing products such as gums and patches. We’re determined to reduce deaths from smoking-related cancers and there’s a lot of potential for e-cigarettes to help reduce the devastating impact of smoking which kills half its long term users. But there are many unanswered questions about these products, so it’s crucial that they’re properly explored to understand their benefits and risks.’
She added that the new MHRA legislation, which should be adopted in 2014 and come into force in the UK from 2016, is a vital step, as it will help to guarantee product safety, restrict marketing to children and monitor the health impacts of long-term exposure to nicotine use. Cancer Research UK asserted that smokers should be allowed to use the products in the interim if this helps them to smoke fewer tobacco products.
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