Russians separate tobacco and vapor

Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov, has said that Russia is preparing to categorize vaping products and tobacco products differently, and therefore to regulate them separately, according to a story by Diane Caruana for vapingpost.com

Manturov said the Russian government had taken the initiative to place vaping devices into a separate category because they were radically different from traditional cigarettes and tobacco.

This motion will be commended by many public health experts, who have been pointing out that any product regulations should be related to the risk of the product.

“Electronic devices are safer,” said Manturov. “Many experts, including Western experts, even articulate a figure: electronic means of nicotine delivery are 95 percent less harmful than conventional cigarettes.”

The minister said also that Russia’s Ministry of Health was onboard with the proposal to categorize the two products separately, and was urging smokers to switch to the safer alternatives.