Public debate sought on e-cigarettes

Israel’s Health Ministry is asking for public feedback on electronic cigarettes before deciding whether or not to ban them, according to a story by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich for the Jerusalem Post.

This is despite a ministry committee’s having recommended that the marketing, import and use of e-cigarettes be prohibited for five years and that the prohibition then be assessed.

According to the story, lot of people lined up to say they wanted electronic cigarettes banned on the grounds that they had not been proved to be safe; so the thinking seems to be that the traditional cigarette, a product that has been found to be unsafe, should be allowed to continue to be on sale when electronic cigarettes, which a lot of people use to wean themselves from traditional cigarettes, should be banned.

Nowhere in the story does anybody make the point that it is the tar from traditional cigarettes that is believed to be the risk factor in smoking and that tar is totally absent from electronic cigarette vaping.

The public’s views are being sought via the website www.shituf.gov.il until March 25.

The ministry will announce its decision over the summer.