E-Cigarettes To Be Considered Medicine In UK

E-cigarettes have become an alternative for cigarette smokers around the world and now Britain has decided to regulate the newly popular products. The Medicines and Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA) released a statement on Wednesday that revealed it would consider the electronic inhaler as medicines.

“Reducing the harms of smoking to smokers and those around them is a key Government health priority,” said Jeremy Mean, the MHRA’s Group Manager of Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines. “Our research has shown that existing electronic cigarettes and other nicotine containing products on the market are not good enough to meet this public health priority.”

The MHRA said that the vapor simulation of smoking will be considered medicines “so that people using these products have the confidence they are safe, are of the right quality and work.”

Britain’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, also chimed in with her thoughts on the matter. Davies made it known that more people have turned to E-cigarettes outside of the deadly harm tar and tobacco can cause to regular smokers.

“While it’s best to quit completely, I realise that not every smoker can and it is much better to get nicotine from safer sources such as nicotine replacement therapy,” Davies said about the topic. “More and more people are using e-cigarettes, so it’s only right these products are properly regulated to be safe and work effectively.”

There’s a long road ahead for manufactures of the new electronic products as tougher tests are being put in place, which they will have to face before the product can hit the market.

The MHRA also noted that “safe and effective products” can help users to cut down on smoking or quit all together as regular cigarettes are responsible for “killing 80,000 people in England each year.”

Do you believe Britain’s new stance will help smokers quit and lead them to E-cigarettes as an alternative?

[Image via Creative Commons]