Russia to Regulate E-Cigarettes Differently Than Other Tobacco Products
You know there’s something wrong with the US regulations of electronic cigarettes when even a country like Russia has the common sense to regulate vaping products as a separate category of tobacco products.
Russia doesn’t have the most impressive records when it comes to public health and anti-corruption, but even its legislators realize that vaping is considerably different than smoking, so they are preparing to regulate them as a separate tobacco product category. In an interview with Vedomosti, Russia’s Minister for Industry and Trade announced that the Government will “separate these products into a different category, because they are radically different than cigarettes and other tobacco products”.
“There is no combustion in electronic vaping devices, and we know that byproducts of combustion, particularly tar, are the most hazardous, I would even say lethal, components of traditional smoking,” Minister Denis Manturov added. Electronic cigarettes are safer. Many experts, including Western ones even estimate by how much: electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are 95% less harmful than conventional cigarettes. The accuracy of that estimate can be disputed, but the fact that ENDS are, as they say, much less dangerous, is obvious. Therefore, the regulation of traditional tobacco products and electronic vaping devices must be unambiguous”
I don’t know who Mr. Manturov has been talking to, but I would bet it wasn’t anti nicotine zealots like Dr. Stanton Glantz. He definitely seems to have the right idea when it comes to vaping and the overwhelming scientific evidence that it is considerably safer than smoking tobacco, and he, along with his colleagues in the Russian Government, is doing something about it.
Speaking about the upcoming e-cigarette regulations, Russia’s Minister for Industry and Trade said that the Government will impose restrictions on their use by minors, the use of e-cigs in schools, kindergartens and “other similar places”. Vaping products will also have labelling requirements, and, most importantly, considerably lower excise taxes compared to traditional tobacco products, like cigarettes.
Asked how much lower these excise taxes will be, Manturov said: “That is a question for the Ministry of Finance, but I stress once again – these products are much less harmful for consumers. Therefore, excise policy should stimulate the transition of smokers from traditional tobacco products to these devices, and not the other way around.”
Denis Manturov also mentioned that Russia’s Ministry of Health is on board with these proposed regulations and is urging cigarette smokers to switch to vaping.
Meanwhile, in the USA and most countries around the world for that matter – with the only notable exceptions being the UK and Iceland – legislators are taking a hard stance on e-cigarettes, treating them as conventional tobacco products and applying excise taxes and restrictions accordingly. The FDA is currently going ahead with its announced regulations, including maintaining the grandfather date mentioned in the Tobacco Control Act, which means products that were introduces to the market after February 15, 2007, will have to undergo a long and expensive approval process by the Agency.
Can we please, please, get the FDA and Congress on the phone with Mr. Manturov, maybe he can talk some sense into them.
via Vapolitique (French)
