E-cigarettes overlooked as smoking cessation tool in India: Experts
Saturday - August 25, 2018 11:56 am ,
Category : HEALTH
New Delhi Aug 25 (IANS) Backing a recent UK Parliamentary Committee report on e-cigarettes Indian experts have contended that despite being 95 per cent less harmful than tobacco cigarettes they are often being overlooked as smoking cessation tool.
According to the recent House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report e-cigarettes should not be treated in the same way as conventional cigarettes.
Regulations should be relaxed relating to e-cigarettes licensing prescribing and advertising of their health benefits. Their level of taxation and use in public places must be reconsidered it said.
"E-cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices are estimated to be 95 per cent and 90 per cent respectively less damaging than cigarettes. Therefore the Committee recommended that e-cigarettes may not be equated with tobacco products in public places " said R.N. Sharan Professor at North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong Meghalaya.
"Many countries struggling to cope with the tobacco-related national health burden and loss of productivity should take a cue from this report and re-look at their existing policies to leverage newer technologies to reduce the tobacco-related health burden " he added
As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-17 India is home to 10 crore tobacco smokers and is the second-highest tobacco-user country (over 300 million) in the world.
Every fifth adult in India uses smokeless (chewing) tobacco and every 10th adult smokes tobacco and the country also holds the record for having the second-lowest tobacco-quit rate the survey has revealed.
Thus the Committee s report is particularly relevant to India the experts noted.
However some states in India including Jammu and Kashmir Karnataka Punjab Maharashtra and Kerala have prohibited sales of e-cigarettes while tobacco cigarettes remain legal.
The bans are in the light of research findings by experts who concluded that they have cancer-causing properties are highly addictive and do not offer a safer alternative to tobacco-based smoking products.
This is a policy paradox because where countries like UK have found reasons to adopt e-cigarette as a harm-reduction alternative India insists upon banning them even without having much indigenous research and or debating the global evidence free from prism of ideology experts favouring e-cigarettes here have argued.
"Health professionals in India need wider options in their stash of existing approach and tools for tobacco cessation. Governments and policymakers need to consider this appropriately in the larger interest of public health " Sharan stated.
Importantly the UK Committee found that e-cigarettes are not a significant "gateway" including for young non-smokers to conventional smoking and do not pose a significant risk through second-hand inhalation.
E-cigarettes are a proven stop smoking tool and while uncertainties undoubtedly remain about their long-term health impact failing to explore the use of e-cigarettes could lead to the continued use of conventional cigarettes-which currently kill millions the experts noted.
--IANS rt/anp
According to the recent House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report e-cigarettes should not be treated in the same way as conventional cigarettes.
Regulations should be relaxed relating to e-cigarettes licensing prescribing and advertising of their health benefits. Their level of taxation and use in public places must be reconsidered it said.
"E-cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices are estimated to be 95 per cent and 90 per cent respectively less damaging than cigarettes. Therefore the Committee recommended that e-cigarettes may not be equated with tobacco products in public places " said R.N. Sharan Professor at North-Eastern Hill University in Shillong Meghalaya.
"Many countries struggling to cope with the tobacco-related national health burden and loss of productivity should take a cue from this report and re-look at their existing policies to leverage newer technologies to reduce the tobacco-related health burden " he added
As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-17 India is home to 10 crore tobacco smokers and is the second-highest tobacco-user country (over 300 million) in the world.
Every fifth adult in India uses smokeless (chewing) tobacco and every 10th adult smokes tobacco and the country also holds the record for having the second-lowest tobacco-quit rate the survey has revealed.
Thus the Committee s report is particularly relevant to India the experts noted.
However some states in India including Jammu and Kashmir Karnataka Punjab Maharashtra and Kerala have prohibited sales of e-cigarettes while tobacco cigarettes remain legal.
The bans are in the light of research findings by experts who concluded that they have cancer-causing properties are highly addictive and do not offer a safer alternative to tobacco-based smoking products.
This is a policy paradox because where countries like UK have found reasons to adopt e-cigarette as a harm-reduction alternative India insists upon banning them even without having much indigenous research and or debating the global evidence free from prism of ideology experts favouring e-cigarettes here have argued.
"Health professionals in India need wider options in their stash of existing approach and tools for tobacco cessation. Governments and policymakers need to consider this appropriately in the larger interest of public health " Sharan stated.
Importantly the UK Committee found that e-cigarettes are not a significant "gateway" including for young non-smokers to conventional smoking and do not pose a significant risk through second-hand inhalation.
E-cigarettes are a proven stop smoking tool and while uncertainties undoubtedly remain about their long-term health impact failing to explore the use of e-cigarettes could lead to the continued use of conventional cigarettes-which currently kill millions the experts noted.
--IANS rt/anp
