Co- Authors: Dr Mahendra Singh, Mentor Most, Mohali, Punjab, India Tulspal Kaur, Intern, SIPHER, Chandigarh, India A recent news report highlighted that smoking kills 1.35 million Indians annually and suggested that e-cigarettes or Oral Nicotine Pouches (ONPs) and other 'smoke-free nicotine alternatives could provide harm reduction.[1] While the tobacco burden is indeed alarming, promoting e-cigarettes or ONPs as a public health solution is misleading and dangerous. The claim of a 95% safer alternative One of the most persistent claims is that e-cigarettes are '95% less harmful' than smoking. However, this figure originated from a 2014 expert meeting without strong scientific backing, and even the authors admitted they lacked hard evidence.
Devices on the market today are very different, making such claims outdated and unreliable. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also clarified…