The End Smoking Trust Chairman, Dr Murray Laugesen has hailed the Health Ministry’s statement, which said that the electronic cigarettes are less dangerous than smoking tobacco. This is supposedly the first time in New Zealand that such a statement has been issued.

The ministry, however, said that using e-cigarettes as a quit-smoking device was still doubtful as research and trials were required to prove its usefulness. It also added that since the e-cigarette contains only nicotine, excluding all the other chemicals found in tobacco, the danger to smokers with e-cigarette was minimal.

The ministry as of now hasn’t declared e-cigarette as an approved medicine and has said that circulation of e-cigarettes will be punishable. It said, “It does raise issues about the social approval of such devices and does run counter to one of the objectives of the [Smokefree Environments] Act and this bill, which is to de-normalize smoking”.

In New Zealand, nearly 5,000 people die annually due to direct smoking or second hand smoke. Apart from the heart diseases, the end of and respiratory problems, smoking tobacco can also cause blindness, impotency and infertility. Hence, the government’s initiatives in curbing the onslaught caused by smoking cigarettes will benefit the entire country.