Electronic cigarettes are to be regulated as medicines, the UK’s drugs watchdog announced yesterday.
Although some countries have banned them, e-cigarettes can at present be bought without restriction in the UK.
From 2016 they will have to be licensed as nicotine-containing products. But they will still be available over the counter, similar to how paracetamol and aspirin are sold.
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Electronic cigarettes may soon be classed as 'medicines' under new plans to tighten up the regulation surrounding products containing nicotineGPs will be able to prescribe them – in the same way nicotine gum and patches are – as an aid to quitting smoking.
Around 1.3million Britons use battery-powered e-cigarettes, which turn nicotine into vapour to be inhaled, avoiding the harm caused by tobacco smoke.