Tobacco Asia

Volume 19, Number 2

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20 tobaccoasia / Issue 2, 2015 (May/June) By Nattira Medvedeva Beginning of Story At the CECMOL Second Chinese E-cig Forum (the Forum) held in Shenzhen on April 9, 2015, a common topic visited time and time again was e- cigarette regulations. While a lot of the discussions touched on the European Commission's Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulations, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, a cardiovascular special- ist and internationally-acclaimed researcher at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece and the University of Patra, Greece, renown for his work on e-cigarettes and their effects, drew attention to a very valid point often overlooked E-cig Regulations: Let There Be Science, Not Ideology by governments: regulations must be based on scientific evidence, not ideology. In his presentation, Dr. Farsalinos shared findings from different research studies he and his team have conducted that provides such evi- dence showing that e-cigarettes present fewer health risks than conventional tobacco cigarettes, addressing many of the concerns that have been brought up by regulators. The scientific research findings could also be used to help set regulations and standards for manufacturers of e-cigarettes and e-liquids to ensure quality products are deliv- ered to the end consumer. As those in the industry are aware, e-cigarettes are gaining in popularity with some predicting they will take over traditional tobacco cigarettes perhaps as soon as 10 years from now. Due to the fact that e-cigarettes are a relatively recent innovation that only gained prominence in the past decade, the fast- growing e-cigarette industry has been largely unregulated until recently, when the European Products Directive comes into force in 2016, and the US FDA currently in the process of coming up with regula- tions, possibly in late 2015 or in 2016. Glycerin molecule. Glycerin, a component of many e-liquids is generally considered safe for consumption and is used in as a food additive in many commercially available products.

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