Many thanks for contacting me again regarding electronic cigarettes and pointing me in the direction of some very useful studies.
I am pleased that overall you support the proposed tobacco legislation. As far as the regulation of nictotine-containing liquid used in e-cigarettes are concerned, I am staying up-to-date with developments in this field.
My main concern is the health effects of electronic cigarettes. Although preliminary tests of the original e-cigarettes produced by Ruyan, a Chinese electronics company, suggest that they are relatively harmless in comparison with smoking, there are now many different models on the market that have not been tested. Further, a draft review by the WHO's Tobacco Regulatory Group notes that the extent of nicotine uptake and the safety of e-cigarettes have yet to be established.
One of my Liberal Democrat colleagues in the European Parliament, Marielle de Sarnez, has recently written a question to the European Commission about the use of electronic cigarettes. A copy of her question is copied here for your reference. I will of course keep you updated when an answer to this question is provided by the Commission.
Over the last few years, more and more people in Europe have started using electronic cigarettes. According to a study by the Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, 7 % of EU citizens claim to have tried them and the total value of the EU market was between EUR 400 and 500 million in 2011. These new e‐cigarettes, which can be recharged using cartridges containing nicotine and flavourings, use a mechanism that produces water vapour, rather than burning tobacco which produces tar. Manufacturers claim that they are less harmful than standard cigarettes. However, it is still not completely clear how smoking electronic cigarettes affects people's health. The World Health Organisation does not think that they should be used to wean people off standard cigarettes and still classifies nicotine as a ‘very dangerous’ substance. According to a 2010 study by the French National Research and Safety Institute, the liquid used to recharge the cigarettes also contains traces of propylene glycol, which can be toxic if consumed in large amounts. The French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (AFSSAPS) does not recommend that people use e‐cigarettes to give up smoking, because it is still not clear how they affect human health. The agency's fear is that people who are not addicted to cigarettes and nicotine would develop an acute addiction by using these products. In 2010, the Commission, in its answer to a parliamentary question, said that it would look into the issue of electronic cigarettes and assess ‘the impact of a (…) revision of the Tobacco Products Directive’
Given that it is not clear how electronic cigarettes affect consumer health and whether they can lead to addiction, does the Commission intend to carry out a study into the potential risks of e‐cigarette use, particularly among young people? Does it plan to revise EU legislation on smoking to take account of its findings?
I will continue to monitor the situation closely and look forward to the European Commission’s response on e-cigarettes in order to make an informed decision regarding their use before the first vote takes place on 25th February.
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Bearder
