On the Eve of a Major E-Cigarette Industry Shake-Up: Nearly 500 Mysterious Lung Illness Cases in the

According to The New York Times, amid a growing number of vaping-related incidents, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on September 15 that New York State would take administrative action to ban flavored e-cigarettes statewide. Previously, nearly 500 cases of vaping-related respiratory illness had already been identified in more than 30 U.S. states, with at least 6 deaths reported.

Within half a month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued their strongest warnings yet on e-cigarettes, and the White House also proposed a nationwide ban, saying that President Trump would introduce specific legislation within weeks to reduce youth consumption of flavored e-cigarettes.

India moved even faster and more aggressively. On September 18, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an order banning the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, storage, and advertising of e-cigarettes in India. The ordinance was to be submitted to parliament in November for review. If approved, it would become the strictest e-cigarette regulatory ban in the world at that time.

India’s “one-size-fits-all” approach has strong signaling significance, and the rapidly expanding vaping industry is about to enter an era of strict global regulation.