Customers puff on e-cigarettes
Customers puff on e-cigarettes at the Henley Vaporium in New York City December 18, 2013. At the Henley Vaporium, one of a growing number of e-cigarette lounges sprouting up in New York and other U.S. cities, patrons can indulge in their choice of more than 90 flavors of nicotine-infused vapor, ranging from bacon to bubble gum.The growing popularity of e-cigarettes has not escaped the notice of the industry's critics, who have stepped up calls for new regulations, including bans on their use in public places, even though the scientific evidence about exposure to their vapors remains inconclusive. Reuters/Mike Segar

For the first time, e-cigarettes have been granted a license by the medicine regulators in the UK. The approval has opened the doors for vaping e-cigarettes to be prescribed as a “medicine” by the NHS.

The approval, granted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has been awarded to the British American Tobacco's rechargeable e-Voke device. The device can now be officially marketed as a remedy to chain smoking, that is, as an aid for smoking cessation.

The Telegraph reports that the approval will allow the GPs to prescribe e-voke device to people who look forward to quit traditional cigarettes. E-voke, which is a kind of a vaping e-cigarette or device, works by vaporizing nicotine fluid with the help of a battery.

According to a British American Tobacco spokesperson, e-voke uses cartridges containing pharmaceutical grade nicotine. The agency now plans to oversee its commercialisation.

On the other hand, the vice-chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners believes that more research should be carried out before e-cigarettes get on the NHS. E-voke can be an essential part of the smoking cessation programme, but its safety and efficiency in making people quit smoking needs to be confirmed first.

E-cigarettes have been a major topic of discussion in the recent times. A recent research published in Dec. 2015 found that vaping e-cigarettes is not a better option than smoking traditional cigarettes. Instead, vapours from the e-cigarettes could irreversibly damage the DNA and lead to cancer.

Meanwhile, Hawaii has become the first state in the United States to ban the sale, purchase, possession and consumption of tobacco products, traditional cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices including e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. Under the new law, anyone caught smoking underage will be liable to pay a nominal fine, reports Hexa News.

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