Should e-cigarettes be regulated as a medicinal device?

Abstract

There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide. About half of individuals who continue smoking will die prematurely because of toxins in tobacco smoke. Over the past few years, smokers in economically developed countries have been showing growing interest in electronic cigarettes (ECs) that are designed to deliver nicotine without these toxins. Should Australia reconsider its ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems?In the past 30 years, steep increases in tobacco taxes, advertising bans, and bans on smoking in public places have reduced the daily smoking rate in Australian adults from 35% in 1983 to 13% in 2013.1,2 Australia was an early adopter of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and mandatory plain packaging of cigarettes.2 In 2011, Australia joined Brazil, Canada, and several European countries in banning the sale of e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery systems.3 Full-Text PDF E-cigarettes: a harm-reduction strategy for socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers?Smokers are rarely seen in Ann Arbor (MI, USA). The University of Michigan, the city's largest employer, embraced a smoke-free campus policy in 2011, relegating smokers to designated areas away from building entrances and out of sight. The city council followed suit in 2014, when it enacted an ordinance banning smoking in many public spaces, including the local transit centre, bus stops, and 77 of its 158 parks. A casual stroller through downtown might be easily fooled into believing that the “smoking issue” is a thing of the past; however, it is not so. Full-Text PDF