Are e-Cigarettes A Medicine By Presentation Or Function? Totally Wicked Explores The Facts MEPs appear to have some confusion over the their own definition of a medicine.
BLACKBURN, England, May 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The EU Tobacco Product Directive (TPD) is currently passing through EU parliamentary committees, morphing with each amendment and polarising opinions as it moves towards its goal of regulating electronic cigarettes.
However, what is increasingly frustrating for users of e-cigarettes is the continued desire by the EU to force e-cigs into medicinal regulation by any means possible. MEPs, including the Rapporteur Linda McAvan seem incapable of understanding the EU's definition of a medicine.
A medicine, as defined by the EU is based upon two defining criteria, as shown in this EU Document: Orientation Note, Electronic Cigarettes and the EC Legislation, dated Brussels, 22.05.2008.
• The electronic cigarette can be regarded as a human medicine by presentation if it is presented as a remedy to get rid of nicotine addiction.
• The electronic cigarette can be regarded as a human medicine by function in so far as it qualifies as "restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions" in a significant manner.
The presentation; Electronic Cigarettes do NOT present themselves as a remedy to get rid of nicotine addiction. Electronic cigarettes are an alternative to tobacco cigarettes, where vapers can have their nicotine without ingesting the known toxins that are in cigarettes. This is pretty straightforward.
However, with the function, one enters a world of 'pick and mix'. Nicotine does not restore or correct, but it does have a modifying physiological effect. Many have felt this when experiencing that first puff on a cigarette, yet cigarettes are not considered medicinal. Coffee has a modifying physiological effect, as does alcohol and a myriad of other substances that are not classed as medicinal.
And this is where the MEPs are obviously getting confused. Here there are two products; e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes, both of which contain nicotine, both have a physiological effect on the body, yet they are to be regulated in completely different ways?
SOURCE Totally Wicked E Liquid