With more than 100 million adult smokers, India, the second most populated country in the world, has officially banned vaping and e-cigarettes.
Taking it a step further than the U.S., it has not only just banned flavored e-cigarettes, but also, tobacco-flavored vapes and has even included jail time of up to three years for offenders.
"The decision was made keeping in mind the impact that e-cigarettes have on the youth of today," India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, told reporters in New Delhi. "This means the production, manufacturing, import and export, sale, distribution and advertising related to e-cigarettes are banned," Sitharaman said at a news conference.
Sitharaman said that she believed that vaping had an adverse effect on young people because it sets a massive trend for youngsters who see the act as a "style statement."
In addition, it seemed as though e-cigarette companies like Juul had not caught on in India in the same way it had for consumers in the U.S. and U.K. In fact, people who vape in the U.S., U.K. and France spent almost more than $10 billion on vaping merchandise in 2018.
The reason vaping rose to fame is because it was marketed to be less harmful than tobacco, which has 7,000 chemicals in its thick smoke. However, vape products have a plethora of substances that are less known yet how potentially harmful they are.
The trend has gained popularity as a result of vaping being seen as a way to quit smoking, a step down from cigarettes for people who do not want to quit all at once. Yet, it has been seen as a "cool" product for youngsters who did not even smoke before, a fact that is concerning parents and governments the world over.
India's move could serve as a bellwether for other countries, particularly in Asia where there are a record number of smokers compared to the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, China, home to almost a third of the world's smokers, stated in July that it wanted the "supervision of electronic cigarettes" to be "severely strengthened".