rebellion
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- May 3, 2010
- Messages
- 16,090
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By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to regulate electronic cigarettes
as non-prescription medicines from 2016 in an attempt to improve
quality, though the country's drugs watchdog said they would
still be sold in convenience stores.
Healthcare authorities around the world are grappling with how to
deal with the battery-driven devices, which allow users to inhale
nicotine-laced vapor and are increasingly popular as an
apparently less harmful alternative to smoking.
A few countries have banned them outright - such as Brazil,
Norway and Singapore - while others are opting for varying
degrees of regulation, in some cases including limits on
advertising and curbs on their use in public places.
Sales of e-cigarettes have boomed in recent years, prompted in
part by restrictions on smoking. But their long-term effects are
as yet unproven and some doctors argue their popularity could
undermine anti-smoking efforts.
They could also affect sales of regulated nicotine-replacement
products, such as patches, sold by drugmakers like Pfizer and
GlaxoSmithKline.
Under the new British system, manufacturers will have to prove
the quality of their products and demonstrate that they deliver
the correct amount of nicotine. But they will not need to conduct
clinical trials.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
said on Wednesday that existing e-cigarettes on the market were
not good enough, with contaminants found in some products and
nicotine levels often varying widely.
However, manufacturers will have time to raise their game and
apply for a license, allowing them to sell regulated devices as
over-the-counter products in a wide range of retail outlets from
2016.
A growing number of established tobacco companies are investing
in the e-cigarette market worldwide, including Lorillard, British
American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Reynolds American and Altria.
They are competing against a plethora of smaller private firms,
all of which see a growing sales opportunity. Research indicates
that around 1.3 million people currently use e-cigarettes in
Britain alone, up from 700,000 a year ago.
BIGGEST RISK IS SMOKING
Jeremy Mean of the MHRA said the government had decided against
banning existing poor-quality e-cigarettes, even though they did
not meet desired safety and standards, since this could tip some
people back into smoking.
"Smoking is the riskiest thing you can do and we want to enable
people to cut down and quit. We don't think a ban is
proportionate to the risk, when the alternative is people
continuing to smoke," he told reporters.
Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said smokers were
harmed by tar and toxins in tobacco smoke, not nicotine, so it
made sense to ensure e-cigarettes were properly regulated, as
already happens with nicotine patches and gums.
The new approach could be a boon for those companies that
successfully secure a license, since licensed e-cigarettes will
be able to carry smoking-cessation claims and could be prescribed
by doctors to help smokers quit.
Mead said there were likely to be fewer products of higher
quality on the market from 2016, when pan-European regulations on
e-cigarettes are also due to come into effect.
Adrian Everett, chief executive of E-Lites, Britain's biggest
seller of e-cigarettes, said his company was well-placed to meet
the new regulatory standards but he cautioned against excessively
tight rules that could reduce customer choice.
"It would be a significant public health loss if electronic
cigarettes were made less available to purchase or less available
to use during the transition from a consumer product to a
medicinal product," he said.
(Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
Sumber: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-regulate-e-cigarettes-medicine-2016-121902278.html
#bahasa inggeris mudah jer ni, semua boleh faham
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is to regulate electronic cigarettes
as non-prescription medicines from 2016 in an attempt to improve
quality, though the country's drugs watchdog said they would
still be sold in convenience stores.
Healthcare authorities around the world are grappling with how to
deal with the battery-driven devices, which allow users to inhale
nicotine-laced vapor and are increasingly popular as an
apparently less harmful alternative to smoking.
A few countries have banned them outright - such as Brazil,
Norway and Singapore - while others are opting for varying
degrees of regulation, in some cases including limits on
advertising and curbs on their use in public places.
Sales of e-cigarettes have boomed in recent years, prompted in
part by restrictions on smoking. But their long-term effects are
as yet unproven and some doctors argue their popularity could
undermine anti-smoking efforts.
They could also affect sales of regulated nicotine-replacement
products, such as patches, sold by drugmakers like Pfizer and
GlaxoSmithKline.
Under the new British system, manufacturers will have to prove
the quality of their products and demonstrate that they deliver
the correct amount of nicotine. But they will not need to conduct
clinical trials.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
said on Wednesday that existing e-cigarettes on the market were
not good enough, with contaminants found in some products and
nicotine levels often varying widely.
However, manufacturers will have time to raise their game and
apply for a license, allowing them to sell regulated devices as
over-the-counter products in a wide range of retail outlets from
2016.
A growing number of established tobacco companies are investing
in the e-cigarette market worldwide, including Lorillard, British
American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Reynolds American and Altria.
They are competing against a plethora of smaller private firms,
all of which see a growing sales opportunity. Research indicates
that around 1.3 million people currently use e-cigarettes in
Britain alone, up from 700,000 a year ago.
BIGGEST RISK IS SMOKING
Jeremy Mean of the MHRA said the government had decided against
banning existing poor-quality e-cigarettes, even though they did
not meet desired safety and standards, since this could tip some
people back into smoking.
"Smoking is the riskiest thing you can do and we want to enable
people to cut down and quit. We don't think a ban is
proportionate to the risk, when the alternative is people
continuing to smoke," he told reporters.
Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said smokers were
harmed by tar and toxins in tobacco smoke, not nicotine, so it
made sense to ensure e-cigarettes were properly regulated, as
already happens with nicotine patches and gums.
The new approach could be a boon for those companies that
successfully secure a license, since licensed e-cigarettes will
be able to carry smoking-cessation claims and could be prescribed
by doctors to help smokers quit.
Mead said there were likely to be fewer products of higher
quality on the market from 2016, when pan-European regulations on
e-cigarettes are also due to come into effect.
Adrian Everett, chief executive of E-Lites, Britain's biggest
seller of e-cigarettes, said his company was well-placed to meet
the new regulatory standards but he cautioned against excessively
tight rules that could reduce customer choice.
"It would be a significant public health loss if electronic
cigarettes were made less available to purchase or less available
to use during the transition from a consumer product to a
medicinal product," he said.
(Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)
Sumber: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-regulate-e-cigarettes-medicine-2016-121902278.html
#bahasa inggeris mudah jer ni, semua boleh faham
