Vapes, e-cigarettes, other artificial nicotine products to be banned soon

In order to crack down on the artificial nicotine products, the government on Tuesday issued an advisory against the sale of vapes, e-cigarettes, e-nicotine flavoured hookah, heat-not-burn devices, e-sheesha and other similar devices in the country.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare advisory issued to all the states and Union Territories, manufacturing, distributing, trading, importing and advertising of any artificially produced nicotine products -- Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) -- will be brought to an end soon.

The step comes after the Delhi High Court slammed the Health Ministry for not taking regulatory measures on the manufacture, import, sale and trading of e-cigarettes in the country.

The Ministry stated that in 2014, a roundtable discussion on ENDS was held where health experts and officers of the health and drug departments concluded that such devices are hazardous.

E-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes, says study

As the government continues to caution people against tobacco and e-cigarettes, a study by the North East Hills University (NEHU) has stated that Electronics Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) or vaping has minimum health and safety concerns compared to the high risk associated with conventional cigarettes.

According to study, researchers, who undertook an evidence-based audit of published scientific literature on the issue, came to the same conclusion in their paper titled "Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) as a substitute for conventional cigarettes.

"Our systematic meta-analysis of published literature compares the health and safety aspects of vaping using ENDS with smoking conventional cigarettes. We find that ENDS have minimum health and safety concerns compared to the high risks associated with conventional cigarettes," said the study.

According to the recently published study, people who have been wanting to quit cigarettes can also switch to ENDS which is gradually much lesser harmful.

In a similar study by University of Catania in Italy has revealed that no evidence of a lung injury amongst even the heaviest e-cigarette users, in the form of physiological, clinical or inflammatory measures.

The study stated that no changes were observed in the blood pressure or heart rate of the young e-cigarette users.
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IED caused blast at Minnesota mosque, none arrested yet: FBI

An "improvised explosive device " caused blast at a suburban Minneapolis mosque when worshippers were gathering for morning prayers, according to the FBI.

No one has been arrested yet. Congregants and neighbours expressed relief that there were no injuries, but also reacted with shock and dismay.

According to authorities, no one was hurt in the explosion at the Bloomington Islamic Center, but heavily damaged an imam's officeand sent smoke wafting through the large building.

Windows in the office were shattered, either by the blast or by an object thrown through them.

When police arrived, they found smoke and fire damage to the building, said Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts.

Agents from the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives soon joined the investigation.

At a news conference Special Agent in Charge Richard Thornton said an "improvised explosive device" caused the blast, but that investigators still must determine "who and why."
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How Philip Morris quietly campaigned to block a global anti-smoking treaty

A group of cigarette company executives stood in the lobby of a drab convention centre near New Delhi last November. They were waiting for credentials to enter the World Health Organization's global tobacco treaty conference, one designed to kerb smoking and combat the influence of the cigarette industry.

Treaty officials didn't want them there. But still, among those lined up hoping to get in were executives from Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco Plc.

There was a big name missing from the group: Philip Morris International Inc. A Philip Morris representative later told Reuters its employees didn't turn up because the company knew it wasn't welcome.

In fact, executives from the largest publicly traded tobacco firm had flown in from around the world to New Delhi for the anti-tobacco meeting. Unknown to treaty organisers, they were staying at a hotel an hour from the convention centre, working from an operations room there. Philip Morris International would soon be holding secret meetings with delegates from the government of Vietnam and other treaty members.

The object of these clandestine activities: The WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC, a treaty aimed at reducing smoking globally. Reuters has found that Philip Morris International is running a secretive campaign to block or weaken treaty provisions that save millions of lives by kerbing tobacco use.

In an internal document, the company says it supported the enactment of the treaty. But Philip Morris has come to view it as a "regulatory runaway train" driven by "anti-tobacco extremists" - a description contained in the document, a 2014 PowerPoint presentation.
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