Health Ministry suspends the sale of electronic cigarettes, which were imported into the country under the definition of pesticide.
Jump to full article: Turkish Daily News (tr), 2008-01-03
Intro: A sales suspension imposed on electronic cigarettes and its cartridges by the Health Ministry due to the high risk of addiction they pose and the possibility of them hampering with efforts to quit smoking has spurred huge debate.
Serious question marks are being raised about the popular anti-smoking device and why it has taken so long for the ministry to intervene.
Health Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Turan Buzgan, speaking at a press conference Tuesday, said the ministry had found that there were certain problems linked to the import of the electronic cigarettes. "They are imported as insecticide even though they need to enter the country as anti-smoking drugs, or if they are medical tools then under the supervision of the Health Ministry. There was a procedural discrepancy which we warned authorities about," Buzgan said. . . .
Toka� said the product didn't have any tar so may not be cancerous, but was just as harmful as regular cigarettes when it came to other diseases, the Anatolia news agency reported.
He said the advertisement that said electronic cigarettes were harmless is false, and added, "nicotine dosages in cartridges used in the cigarettes vary, but it is impossible to accurately adjust the dosage. There is nicotine in this product and it is seriously harmful to health." . . .
One producer, Hong-Kong based Ruyan's Turkey representative, Selahattin Ayg�ler, released a statement soon after the suspension saying his firm was the creator and sole licensed seller of electronic cigarettes, arguing that their success rate in getting customers to quit stood at 77 percent.
He said that the new suspension must have been aimed at stopping the sale of imitation products, which the firm itself had lodged complaints about.
"No such decision has been communicated to us. Electronic cigarettes are based on World Health Organization (WHO) approved nicotine treatment methods," he said.
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