Labelling electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco devices a health risk, the ministry asked state governments to ensure that these devices not be manufactured, imported, sold or advertised. The ministry said the devices “are a great health risk to public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age.” There was a risk that youths and non-smokers would get hooked on nicotine and switch to smoking cigarettes, according to the ministry, the news agency said.
Reuters reported in June that Philip Morris International was engaged in talks to have its IQOS heated tobacco device marketed as reduced-risk tobacco product in the country. Reuters said PMI and ITC, which sells cigarettes and electronic cigarettes in the country, had not responded to requests for comment on the ministry’s call for a ban.
A public interest litigation calling for the regulation of e-cigarettes was filed in the Delhi High Court last year and the court last week asked the federal health ministry when regulatory measures for e-cigarettes would be announced, the news agency said.
The Reuters report quoted a senior health official as saying the government was “sending a strong message” about the harmful nature of these products to the public.