Table of Contents
Context
- The Prohibition of E-cigarettes Ordinance 2019 is being sent to a Group of Ministers as directed by the Prime Minister’s Office.
e-cigarettes
- An e-cigarette, short for electronic cigarette, is a batteryoperated device.
- One of a large variety of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)
- The user inhales it
- The pros and cons of ecigarettes are hotly debated
- India’s market for e-cigarettes, while nascent today, is projected to grow annually at more than 25 per cent in the next five years.
The draft ordinance
- Could not stand judicial scrutiny.
- It now seeks legal backing for a ban (rather than just an advisory) in the form of an ordinance.
- The ordinance makes any violation of its provisions punishable by imprisonment
- Some states have already
Why ordinance?
- Under the Constitution, health is a state subject, so any move to ban manufacture and sale of a product on health grounds needs to come from the state government.
- The Delhi HC stayed the Centre’s circular banning sale and manufacture of ENDS like ecigarettes and e-hookah with nicotine flavour, saying as the products were not a “drug”.
The scientific position on ban
- The use of ENDS or e-cigarettes adversely affects almost all the human body systems
- The cartridges used in ENDS or ecigarettes are filled with liquid nicotine,.
- A typical cartridge contains about as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes
- The liquid-vaporizing solutions also contain toxic chemicals
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