Smoking is a choice. It doesn’t need government intervention

In an ideal world, none of us would indulge in self-defeating habits that we know, intellectually, are hastening our demise.

e cigarettes ban in india, e cigarettes and vaping, smoking, cigarettes, indian government, tobacco usage in india, us lung illnes, indian express news — It is truly bizarre that a government can get away with banning e-cigarettes by quoting seven unexplained deaths in the US, while doing nothing to check the access minors have to an obscene range of tobacco products on sale at every street corner in India.

In a move aimed (supposedly) at safeguarding the youth, e-cigarettes have been banned in India with immediate effect. For the uninitiated, the electronic device that costs Rs 6,000 looks like a slightly long pen drive, and contains a nicotine solution that you inhale as vapour (hence the term vaping). While nicotine is the same addictive substance in combustible cigarettes, the battery-operated e-cig doesn’t have tar, nor are users filling their lungs with acrid smoke. “E-cigarettes are being used as a style statement,” alleged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a little sanctimoniously to media, adding that this preventive step is to ensure they don’t become an “epidemic” among young adults. Those very same young adults still have plenty of options when it comes to making unhealthy choices — regular cigarettes, beedis, paan masala and suparis will continue to be freely available.