Can we rely on e-cigarettes

It’s been an interesting month for the manufacturers of nicotine containing products, or NCP’s. Manufacturers are to undergo rigorous medical testing of their products before they can sell their e-cigarettes as licensed medicines, rather than consumer items. This has come from recent publication by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe.

Existing electronic cigarettes on the market and other NCPs will need a medicines licence once the European Commission’s revised Tobacco Products Directive is transposed in UK law. The European Commission has said it expects the new legislation to be adopted in 2014 and for it come into effect in the UK from 2016. This will allow time for manufacturers to ensure that their products meet the safety/quality and efficacy requirements of a medicine. Electronic Cigarettes seem to be at the heart of this topical issue. The user sucks on a battery operated device which vapourises the liquid nicotine and is absorbed in the lungs like a normal cigarette. They then exhale what looks like smoke which is actually largely water vapor.

At present an estimated 1.3million people within the UK are using electronic cigarettes. They have been a massive hit with people who are trying to stop smoking. Interestingly, the leading brands of electronic cigarettes do not seem to market themselves as an aid to stop smoking, more an alternative, which allows the user to smoke anywhere they like. This would make sense as its good business to have a customer who comes back again and again as opposed to someone who buys for a period of months before stopping.

Concerns about NCP’s have become relevant due to the booming success of the “e-cigarette”. There are arguments that children and teenagers have easy access to these products and that the products have not been tested properly.

The manufacturers seem to be standing firm that imposing strict regulations on the sale of their products will have a massive impact on public health and are hoping that by the time the European Tobacco Regulation Law comes into place in 2016 the EU will take into account the massive impact on public health.

For the moment it would seem that electronic cigarettes are here but whether they will stay or not is a different question.