Disagreement over regulation timing

If Denmark’s health minister, Nick Hækkerup, has his way, parliament will “soon” be taking action to curb the increasing use of e-cigarettes in the country, according to a Copenhagen Post story.

“It concerns me that children are using strawberry- and licorice-flavored e-cigarettes,” Hækkerup wrote in a statement to parliament’s committee on health.

“It doesn’t matter whether or not they contain nicotine; it is still a concern.”

Hækkerup called on parliament to begin discussing possible regulation of the use of e-cigarettes.

Social Democrats’ health spokesperson Flemming Møller Mortensen said that it was too soon to sound the alarm.

“It is hard to regulate when we know as little as we do now,” he was quoted as saying.

But Niels Them Kjær, spokesperson for the cancer society, welcomed Hækkerup’s suggestion.

“It has been a grey area for a while, so it is a positive sign that the minister is looking to regulate it in some way,” Kjær said.