India Announces Ban on E-cigarettes

India’s cabinet has announced a ban on the production, import and sale of electronic cigarettes, saying they pose a risk to health. An executive order had been approved banning vaping products because of their impact on young people, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

It is not clear if the order will also prohibit the use of vaping equipment.

India has more than 100 million adult smokers, making it a huge potential market for e-cigarette companies.

Vaping - which involves inhaling a mix typically made of nicotine, water, solvents and flavours - is seen as an alternative to smoking which can help you quit, but its impact on health is still not fully known.

The ban will include jail terms of up to three years for offenders. Traditional tobacco products are not affected. “This means the production, manufacturing, import and export, sale, distribution and advertising related to e-cigarettes are banned,” Ms Sitharaman told a news conference.

She said evidence from the U.S. and India suggested some young people saw vaping as a “style statement”.

India is the world’s secondlargest consumer of tobacco products after China, and more than 900,000 people die in the country each year from tobaccorelated illnesses. Proponents of vaping say it helps people stop smoking and that banning it would encourage ex-smokers to pick up the habit again.

But India’s health ministry, which proposed the ban, says it is in the public interest to ensure vaping doesn’t become an “epidemic” among young people.