James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue, as it is a serious concern. As the Deputy pointed out, there have been 17 cases of liquid nicotine poisoning reported by the National Poisons Information Centre in Ireland and God knows how many there have been elsewhere around the world. Nicotine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug and of what benefit is it to become addicted to nicotine? There is no benefit, so why would one allow marketing of these products to people as a lifestyle choice when all that can come of it is harm? If e-cigarettes have a role in smoking cessation, let it be proven before claims are made in this regard.

The World Health Organization strongly advises against the use of e-cigarettes until they are proven safe. Studies to be published later this month indicate that some e-cigarettes produce a known carcinogen that would be inhaled by users because of fumes produced at such a high temperature. A second study prepared for the same journal has similar findings, and I am aware of a study which indicates that nicotine by itself can facilitate progression and metastases of tumours. A study published in The Lancetindicates that 94% of people who attempted to quit smoking using e-cigarettes had failed to do so after six months, which is a pretty lousy return.

E-cigarette use among teenagers in the US has doubled in a single year, which must be a grave concern for us. Almost a quarter of teenager e-cigarette users in the US do not smoke regular cigarettes. We all know the impact of smoking on our society, with one in two smokers dying of a related disease. Families suffer hardship from cancers, strokes, heart attacks and the loss of meaningful and useful life years as a consequence of the habit.

I disagree utterly with the outrageous statement made by an individual on the radio recently suggesting that the very welcome reduction in people smoking was due to these products. There is no evidence to support that for half a moment. This reduction has been the result of tremendous work done by the Health Service Executive, HSE, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Health, the Irish Cancer Society, the Asthma Society, the Irish Lung Foundation and many others who have worked to try to inform people of the dangers of this heinous and deadly product and to prevent our children's ever taking up this habit.

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