Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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444. To ask the Minister for Health if there are any health issues and concerns with electronic cigarettes; the regulations currently in place to deal with this product [51748/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As e-cigarettes are not presented as medicinal products for smoking cessation or as medical devices with a therapeutic purpose they do not fall under the medicinal products or medical devices legislation. As electronic cigarettes do not contain tobacco they are currently not regulated under tobacco legislation.

Products which do not fall under any other regulatory framework come under the European Communities (General Product Safety) Regulations 2004 which specify the duties of producers and distributors placing products on the market. The body with responsibility for this legislation is the National Consumer Agency.

The report of the Tobacco Policy Review Group 'Tobacco Free Ireland' was launched on the 3rd October 2013. The report recommends the establishment of a regulatory framework for nicotine products in the context of discussions at European Union level. Last December, the Commission published a proposal for a new EU Tobacco Products Directive, the ultimate purpose of which is to reduce the numbers of people smoking. The proposal is being discussed in the European Parliament and Council of Ministers and the Commission hope that it will be adopted in 2014. Nicotine containing products such as e-cigarettes are being considered in the context of this proposed tobacco products directive.

In relation to e-cigarettes the World Health Organisation has noted that the safety has not been established and that not enough scientific evidence exists currently to validate the claim that these products are effective smoking cessation aids. A WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation , concluded that, as no rigorous, peer-reviewed studies have been conducted to show that electronic cigarettes are a safe, effective nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), there is no evidence to support marketing of these products for tobacco cessation.