No Experts Allowed in Electronic Cigarette Meeting Says MHRA
Press Release: The MHRA is refusing to allow experts in tobacco to take part in a consultation process on electronic cigarettes.
Professor Carl Phillips had bought his plane ticket.
The world renowned expert on tobacco control and harm reduction was coming to the UK partly for a conference on harm reduction, but also to explain the science of the electronic cigarette to the MHRA as a consultant to UK-based ECigaretteDirect.
The MHRA is currently proposing that the electronic cigarette industry be given two weeks to licence the product as a medicine, a process which usually takes at least two years.
Cancelled
With less than 6 days to go before a meeting which will decide the fate of many fledgling UK companies and their employees, the MHRA - which has been attacked by a Parliamentary select committee for its close relationship with the very pharmaceutical companies who are threatened by the growing popularity of the e-cigarette - has cancelled!
In a letter to companies in the industry, the MHRA claimed that they had not realised that the timing of their meeting - during a general election - was breaking their own rules.
This means that Professor Carl Phillips, who accepted a temporary position as a consultant to UK company Cigarette Direct after he was refused access to the meeting as an independent expert, will still not be able to give his advice to the body making such an important decision.
The Electronic Cigarette
The NJOY electronic cigarette is a smoking alternative which allows smokers who can't or don't want to quit to enjoy nicotine without the associated tar, chemicals and combustion of cigarettes, and has been tested 100% free of toxins in independent laboratory tests. The MHRA is currently attempting to bring the products under its remit by designating them as a medicine.
ECigaretteDirect.co.uk has attempted to and is agreeable to working with the MHRA to find a suitable set of conditions under which the industry can work with the MHRA. However, it is important to note that the electronic cigarette industry should and must be afforded the same consultation rules as has been afforded other industries. Anything less would be an unjust departure from the MHRA’s past practices.
ECigaretteDirect is the UK distributor of the NJOY electronic cigarette. For more information see their website www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk or contact Jean Rasbridge on jean.rasbridge@ecigarettedirect.co.uk.