An umbrella body of traders promoting electronic cigarettes and similar devices has sent a representation to a parliamentary panel, countering arguments put forth by the Health Ministry to ban alternative smoking devices.
Trade Representatives of ENDS (TRENDS) said it has sent a representation, along with relevant documents, to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health chairman Ram Gopal Yadav and 30 other members.
TRENDS has urged the committee members to consider all evidence and ground realities, which, it claimed, will "sooner or later" make it difficult for the government to defend the ban.
Convenor of TRENDS Praveen Rikhy said, "We are deeply concerned with a multitude of erroneous statements, misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Indian and global data, especially that from the US, from the health minister to justify the ban of e-cigarettes in India."
"It is unprecedented that US sales and user data are being quoted to enforce a ban on a category with negligible presence in the country, a category that is universally acknowledged to be less harmful than all other tobacco products with extremely high user base in India, through scare-mongering," Rikhy added.
On September 18, the government issued an ordinance, making the manufacturing, production, import, export, distribution, transport, sale, storage or advertisements of such alternative smoking devices a cognizable offence, attracting jail term and fine.
First-time violators will face a jail term of up to one year and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. For subsequent offences, a jail term of up to three years or a fine of Rs 5 lakh, or both have been prescribed in the ordinance.
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