Described as:

"The single most important event in the history of our industry..."

by Katherine Devlin of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association (ECITA), an ECigarette Summit will be held on 12th November at The Royal Society in London, aiming to provide:

a balanced and neutral platform for health professionals, policy makers, scientists and e-cigarette stakeholders to explore the facts and myths surrounding e-cigarettes and examine some of the more contentious issues; particularly, safety, efficacy, gateway potential and the impact of medical regulation

[caption id="attachment_7942" align="alignleft" width="200"] Ex-ASH chief and anti-medicalisation speaker Clive Bates.[/caption]

It also finally sees some of the big players from both sides of the e-cigarette debate get together to discuss the issues.

Those speaking will include those campaigning to have electronic cigarettes regulated as a medicine (which the MHRA said would mean a ban on every device currently on the market), including Jeremy Mean from the MHRA and Deborah Arnotte from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) UK.

But there will also be those who have been fighting for fairer regulation, including Clive Bates (EX-ASH chief who we interviewed here) as well as a number of independent scientists such as Dr Farsalinos (interviewed here).

Although I heartily disagree with their views, it's good of both Jeremy Mean and Deborah Arnotte to agree to come to a conference where they can know their views will be strongly challenged, It'll be particularly interesting to see the difference in views between Clive and Deborah.

[caption id="attachment_7943" align="alignright" width="200"] Current ASH chief and pro-medicalisation speaker Deborah Arnott.[/caption]

Hopefully, the conference will help those in favour of lighter touch regulation to:

• dispel myths about electronic cigarette
• put the case for fairer regulation that would put e-cigarettes, at the very least, on a level playing ground with cigarettes

Presentations will be followed by moderated discussion, and you'll also get the chance to ask questions.

The tickets are not cheap, but the organisers have spent a great deal organising the event, and will be lucky to break even.

For more information about the event, click here. Even if you are not able to attend, please share it with anyone you know who might be interested.

I'll be heading there myself, and will publish a summary after the event. Let me know if you are going to be there!