UK to start regulating e-cigarettes as medicines
MARIA CHENG, AP
LONDON
(AP) — Britain will start regulating electronic cigarettes and other
products containing nicotine as medicines, according to the country's
top regulator.
E-cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.
In
a statement Wednesday, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory
Agency said it would treat e-cigarettes as medicines "so that people
using these products have the confidence
they are safe, are of the right quality and work."
E-cigarettes
and other nicotine products will be licensed in the U.K. from 2016,
giving manufacturers time to ensure their products comply with all
standards for medicines. The UK regulator
says e-cigarettes aren't recommended for use until then but it will not
ban them entirely.
"While
it's best to quit completely, I realize that not every smoker can and
it is much better to get nicotine from safer sources such as nicotine
replacement therapy," Britain's Chief
Medical Officer Sally Davies said in a statement. "It's only right
(e-cigarettes) are properly regulated to be safe and work effectively."
Cigarettes are exempt from the regulation.
Last
week, Britain's independent health watchdog said smokers unable to go
cold turkey should be encouraged to use nicotine products like gum and
patches to help them cut down. It hadn't
recommended e-cigarettes because they weren't yet regulated. Experts
say smokers are at risk from the toxins and tar in cigarettes, not the
nicotine.
Smoking
is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in England, killing about
80,000 people every year. Once e-cigarettes and other nicotine products
are licensed by the U.K. regulator,
they will be available for sale as over-the-counter medicines. Britain
said it will now push for European law to recognize nicotine products as
medicines.
Some
manufacturers said they were concerned about the new classification.
Damien Scott, commercial manager of e-cigarette maker SKYCIG, said the
products are currently self-regulated
to ensure they meet consumer standards.
"Medical regulation which could restrict access to these lifestyle products is entirely unjustified," he said.
In
the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration announced in 2011 that it
would regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products and won't try to
regulate them under stricter rules for medical
drug-delivery devices following a legal battle.
The FDA plans to assert regulatory authority over the fast-growing category in the near future, however.
E-cigarettes
could also still be regulated as drugs or drug-delivery devices, if
they are "marketed for therapeutic purposes" — for example, as a
stop-smoking aid.
AP Tobacco Writer Michael Felberbaum contributed to this report from Richmond
(
first they tell us cigarettes are bad, can’t smoke indoors, shouldn’t
smoke in public, now the e-cigarette which is the futuristic way to feed
the nicademons is also being potentially
driven into the closet as a “medicine” and “therapeutic” is smoking a
health hazard? Sure it is, it can kill ya, but it’s still your choice is
the e-cigarette medicine? No. not in my opinion, whether I’m smoking an
actual tobacco cigarette or an e-cigarette
what’s actually the difference? )
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