The Minister of Health has called for an investigation into the effects of e-cigarettes. A product that more and more smokers are using to replace tobacco.
Marisol Touraine, said on Tuesday on France Info, to have requested an investigation into the effects of electronic cigarettes, which more and more smokers are taking to replace tobacco. “I asked my services to tell me very precisely what type of product it is: can we consider that it is a consumer product? Is it a medical device ? “, asked the minister.
For the Minister of Health, it is also necessary “to carry out a benefit-risk assessment of this device which poses a certain number of questions” in the face of a product “which has become widely used.”. Doubts about the effects of electronic cigarettes which are not new. Indeed, in May 2011, the Medication Agency (Ansm) had recommended “not to consume electronic cigarettes”. The Ansm claimed that these solutions contained varying amounts of nicotine, which, even at low concentrations, could “lead to serious adverse effects”. The health agency stressed in particular that the use of electronic cigarettes should be avoided in breastfeeding women because of the toxicity of certain substances and the absence of data relating to their passage into breast milk.
Born in the dispensary of a Chinese pharmacist in 2003, and confidential for a long time, the e-cigarette has become more popular with its technological evolution. It is now capable of producing hot vapor, for a sensation almost identical to that provided by tobacco smoke. As a reminder, no large-scale study has yet been carried out on this product. Brazil, Israel or Singapore have banned it altogether. The European Union is still hesitating. And, the results of the first expertise worthy of the name, conducted by New Zealand, will not be known until 2014. In France, their sale is prohibited in pharmacies, since it is not considered a drug.
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