The Association of Vapers India (AVI) held a protest on Saturday against the recent ban of vapes and e-cigarettes by the Government of India.
The Union Cabinet recently approved the promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement) Ordinance, 2019 with immediate effect. As a result, anyone violating it will be imprisoned for up to a year or fined up to ₹1,00,000 or both for the first offence. Storage of electronic-cigarettes shall also be punishable. The ordinance will need to be approved by Parliament when it meets in November.
The AVI is a non-profit organisation advocating the use of vapes and e-cigarettes to help smokers reduce their nicotine addiction and quit smoking, “The government is denying me the right to save my life. I have been vaping for the past nine years and it has really helped me. My lung capacity has significantly improved and I feel more active than when I used to smoke,” Ajay Shah, one of the protesters, said.
The AVI said a study a by Public Health England (PHE), an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom, maintains that vaping is 95% safer than smoking.
Dhaval Gogate, board member, AVI, referred to a news article by The Guardian , a British daily newspaper. The article quotes Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, saying, “It would be tragic if thousands of smokers who could quit with the help of an e-cigarette are being put off due to false fears about safety”.
“In addition to this, several foreign agencies such as American Cancer Society, British Medical Association and New Zealand Ministry of Health also support the use of vapes as a safer alternative to smoking,” he said.
