A recent article published in TOI states the Karnataka government is planning to curb the consumption and sale of electronic cigarettes and impose a ban following the footsteps of Maharashtra, Punjab and Chandigarh.

Update on 15th June: 

Bengaluru, June 15 () Karnataka government has banned electronic cigarettes in the state with effect from today.

"We have banned e-cigarettes today. The decision has been taken on the recommendation of the committee on cancer prevention," Minister for Health and Family Welfare U T Khader told .

He said a study was conducted by the committee with an NGO on e-cigarettes, which said large number of youngsters was getting addicted to it.

 

Reaction of the Affected public: Various RTI's were filed questioning the circular issue by State of Karnataka imposing the Ban, and few shocking replies were received from the hon'ble government.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntz46sjqba22i6q/rti%20reply1.jpg?dl=0​

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iw9ld4wycaliym8/rti%20reply2.jpg?dl=0

In the reply of the RTI filed to question the recent e-cigarette ban, The govt. of Karnataka, Ministry of Health and Welfare states, No such report / analysis / study / information is available.

Seriously? You ban things in & out without even conducting a single study? Don't we think the ban imposing culture is become quiet trending in a democratic country of ours?

 

Through this petition we would like to make you aware of the negative implications of such a decision in a progressive state like Karnataka, and how it will have a disastrous impact on health.

First, let us find out what an electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is – it is a handheld electronic device that vaporizes a flavored liquid. The user inhales the vapor, which is known as vaping. The fluid in the e-cigarette, called e-liquid, is made of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorings and nicotine. Hence, there is no combustion of tobacco, which is the deadliest factor in smoking a cigarette as it produces tar. It is also important to note that these chemicals used in e-liquids are found in various day-to-day consumables ranging from toffees, candies to biscuits. People use e-cigarettes to quit smoking and for recreation.

Though the long-term impact of e-cigarettes is yet to be fully ascertained since the technology is new, there is extensive research to establish that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking, and also a more effective tobacco cessation tool than nicotine gums and patches.

According to the extensive research paper published in April 2016 by The Royal College Of Physicians, the professional body responsible for accreditation of physicians in the UK:

This report aims to provide a fresh update on the use of harm reduction in tobacco smoking, in relation to all non-tobacco nicotine products but particularly e-cigarettes. It concludes that, for all the potential risks involved, harm reduction has huge potential to prevent death and disability from tobacco use, and to hasten our progress to a tobacco-free society.

Some key recommendations:

1. Smoking is the biggest avoidable cause of death and disability, and social inequality in health, in the UK.
2. Quitting smoking is very difficult and most adults who smoke today will continue to smoke for many years.
3. People smoke because they are addicted to nicotine, but are harmed by other constituents of tobacco smoke.
4. Provision of the nicotine that smokers are addicted to without the harmful components of tobacco smoke can prevent most of the harm from smoking.
5. Until recently, nicotine products have been marketed as medicines to help people to quit.
6. NRT is most effective in helping people to stop smoking when used together with health professional input and support, but much less so when used on its own.
7. E-cigarettes are marketed as consumer products and are proving much more popular than NRT as a substitute and competitor for tobacco cigarettes.
8. E-cigarettes appear to be effective when used by smokers as an aid to quitting smoking.
9. E-cigarettes are not currently made to medicines standards and are probably more hazardous than NRT.
10. However, the hazard to health arising from long-term vapour inhalation from the e-cigarettes available today is unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm from smoking tobacco.
11. Technological developments and improved production standards could reduce the long-term hazard of e-cigarettes.
12. There are concerns that e-cigarettes will increase tobacco smoking by re normalizing the act of smoking, acting as a gateway to smoking in young people, and being used for temporary, not permanent, abstinence from smoking.
13. To date, there is no evidence that any of these processes is occurring to any significant degree in the UK.
14. Rather, the available evidence to date indicates that e-cigarettes are being used almost exclusively as safer alternatives to smoked tobacco, by confirmed smokers who are trying to reduce harm to themselves or others from smoking, or to quit smoking completely.
15. There is a need for regulation to reduce direct and indirect adverse effects of e-cigarette use, but this regulation should not be allowed significantly to inhibit the development and use of harm-reduction products by smokers.
16. A regulatory strategy should, therefore, take a balanced approach in seeking to ensure product safety, enable and encourage smokers to use the product instead of tobacco, and detect and prevent effects that counter the overall goals of tobacco control policy.
17. The tobacco industry has become involved in the e-cigarette market and can be expected to try to exploit these products to market tobacco cigarettes, and to undermine wider tobacco control work.
18. However, in the interests of public health it is important to promote the use of e-cigarettes, NRT and other non-tobacco nicotine products as widely as possible as a substitute for smoking in the UK.

A survey conducted in US in 2013:-

While many vapers believe usage is healthier than smoking for themselves and bystanders, some are concerned about the possible adverse health effects. Others use them to circumvent smoke-free laws and policies, or to cut back on cigarette smoking. 56% of respondents reported having used e-cigarettes to quit or reduce their smoking. In the same survey, 26% of respondents would use them in areas where smoking was banned. Many e-cigarette users use them because they believe they are safer than conventional cigarettes.

Yes, 56%, and that too back in 2013 when the products and the market wasn’t developed as it is today. 56% of the respondents said e-cigarettes cut their smoking habit and nicotine gums or patches did not work, but e-cigarettes did.

 

Reputed professionals have endorsed vaping:-

David Cameron, the British Prime Minister; has become the first world leader to publicly endorse the usage of electronic cigarettes.

Prime Minister Cameron went on the record, after being asked about his view on e-cigarette regulation. Revealing that he believed e-cigarettes are a legitimate aid use by people to help break the habit of smoking after discussing his own struggle to quit smoking. Stating “certainly as somebody who has been through this battle a number of times, eventually relatively successfully, lots of people find different ways of doing it, and certainly for some people e-cigarettes are successful.

In 2015, England moved to the forefront of a relatively fair and sound approach to vaping. Becoming a leading example of how a major world government could preserve the rights and freedoms of its citizens to adopt vaping, while at the same time maintaining their commitment to the greater public’s health and safety.

Their own ministry of health conducted one of the first government funded studies on vaping, and concluded the now often cited findings that vapor is 95% less harmful than tobacco smoking. The landmark study also helped make strides in exposing the blatant bias and propaganda of US researches, falsifying data and using junk science.

Cameron also said “I think we do need to be guided by the experts. We should look at the report from Public Health England but its promising to see that overall, one million people are estimated to have used e-cigarettes to help them quit”.

The UK`s vape community is growing, as is the number of citizens using vapor devices, the estimated number now totals 2.6 million people.

The Prime Minister further added “I think we should be making clear that this is a very legitimate path for many people to improve their health and the health of the nation”.

At such a volatile time for the vape industry, it’s a relief to see some world leaders actually approaching vaping logically. While many U.S. Politicians are driven by ulterior motives and maintain an alarmist attitude, leaders in the UK are at least putting the health of their citizens ahead of special interest groups.

 

Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association, says there is a misperception that vapor and e-cigarettes are just as harmful as tobacco cigarettes. Conley said, on the contrary, the international public health community reports vaping is at least 95-percent less hazardous than smoking and it helps smokers quit.

Professor John Britton, chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) Tobacco Advisory Group, said: The growing use of electronic cigarettes as a substitute for tobacco smoking has been a topic of great controversy, with much speculation over their potential risks and benefits. This report lays to rest almost all of the concerns over these products, and concludes that, with sensible regulation, electronic cigarettes have the potential to make a major contribution towards preventing the premature death, disease and social inequalities in health that smoking currently causes in the UK. Smokers should be reassured that these products can help them quit all tobacco use forever.

RCP president Professor Jane Dacre said: Since the RCP’s first report on tobacco, Smoking and health, in 1962, we have argued consistently for more and better policies and services to prevent people from taking up smoking, and help existing smokers to quit. This new report builds on that work and concludes that, for all the potential risks involved, harm reduction has huge potential to prevent death and disability from tobacco use, and to hasten our progress to a tobacco-free society.

Dr. Murray Winiata took up “vaping” on e-cigarettes to quit smoking himself and now recommends them to patients who are struggling to give up the habit. Dr. Winiata has gone out on a limb to promote a controversial quit-smoking technique to his patients. “They are the only discussion you can have with someone who says they don’t want to quit,” he told the Herald ahead of World Smokefree Day today.  “I say, ‘You may want to consider this as a safer alternative to smoking’ – otherwise it’s the end of the conversation.” The Ministry of Health does not support e-cigarettes and official medical guidelines on how to quit smoking do not mention them. “The ministry’s position is really disappointing as it produces barriers to accessing nicotine liquid,” says Winiata.  He suggests e-cigarettes to smokers who either refuse to stop or have tried repeatedly to quit by using Champix and other medications.

There are many more such examples claiming vaping not only being a 95% safer alternative to smoking, but also being an effective alternative as nicotine patches, gums and therapies have a very low success rate as compared to vaping. The major reason being, the recreational effect caused by the vapor in electronic cigarettes makes it easier to make the switch over.

The debate over vaping has been going on since a long time but there are no hard facts to prove it is more harmful, though it is has been confirmed that vaping is much safer than smoking analogs which involve tobacco combustion.

So if selling cigarettes off the counter is legal, why ban e-cigarettes?

A question to the honorable Government of Karnataka is that while taking any decision on  grounds of public welfare, why isolate the public in the decision?

Why is the Karnataka government not following the examples set by UK and European countries which are using e-cigarettes for harm reduction?

Banning e-cigarettes will leave smokers with fewer options to quit smoking while boosting the position of tobacco companies. Is the government willing to openly take their side?

Among the petitioners below you will find testimonials by hundreds of ex-smokers for whom vaping has been the difference between a healthier life and a hastened death. We urge you to rely on your good conscience and not deny thousands others the benefits of advances in technology.  

 

Few Important developments to watch:

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron endorses vaping in British parliament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWLkTrgb8Vo

 

Source for the claims made above:

https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/nicotine-without-smoke-tobacco-harm-reduction-0​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette​

https://skynews.grabyo.com/g/v/LhoeOJzT8sW​

http://vapeaboutit.com/british-prime-minister-endorses-vaping​

http://globalvalves.net/vaping/7-effective-techniques-that-help-you-to-stop-smoking-naturally-vapor-cigarettes/​

http://vaping.info/news​

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-03-03/29738/ 

Also, Self Experience and Success Stories of millions.