The electronic cigarette has already won the heart of a very large number of smokers in France but it also creates a huge controversy. Currently , the status of this innovative product is not yet determined. The electronic cigarette is not recognized as a means of smoking cessation by health authorities in France , while in some countries , the device is officially regarded as a drug. This is for example the case in the United Kingdom. In France , no product has been the subject of a marketing authorization ( Authorisation Market )
In 2012, the results of a survey conducted by the French Office for the Prevention of Smoking ( OFT ) had shown that most pharmacies in France did not comply with the ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes. This survey helped to know that 36% of practicing French pharmacies selling e- cigarettes. Among these pharmacies also become e- cigarette , 33 % offer at least a 3% mark and distribute an average of two different brands of products.
Also recall that the MSNA , former AFSSAPS , has forbidden the marketing of the product in pharmacies unless they had a drugstore space. Not included in the list of which is approved for sale in pharmacies , so these pharmacies violated Article L5125 -24 of the Code of Public Health .
This trade has also been said of " unequal" National Order of Pharmacists , in its press release of June. This organization has denounced the fact that pharmacies " seem to have forgotten their mission of public service and discredit the entire profession ."
If this illegal sale continues , it would be because the recommendations of the MSNA are not strict enough . In addition, the situation of the electronic cigarette becomes even more uncertain, the pharmaceutical industry continues in this way and take this blur hoping that this successful trade is fully booked him in the near future.
According to some rumors, Marisol Touraine , the Minister of Health and Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg alleged links of interest with the pharmaceutical industry.
Faced with a decision on the ban of electronic cigarettes in public places , it is suspected that the Minister and the President of the OFT have common interests with major pharmaceutical companies. Remember that this is a decision that was strongly opposed by the community vapoteurs and many scientists. Included among those refractory to this bill experts, the pioneer of tabacologie Molimard Robert , Jacques Le Houezec and Mathern and Gérard Jean-Fran?ois Etter, two scientists who even participated in the report that was commissioned by the Minister. They have also refused to sign .
In his remarks, the Minister said that this decision was made in the sole purpose to favor the interest of public health , because the electronic cigarette is becoming increasingly popular as its health effects remain to study .
But observers say the move is far from neutral . First there was the fact that Mrs. Marisol Touraine was formerly part of Future Health Club , an advocacy group whose main financier is none other than ... GlaxoSmithKline laboratory that deals with manufacturing and promoting the sale of nicotine patches the Niquitin brand.
Those who protest against the bill the Minister would also like to remind the Minister of Health had previously taken part in the Novartis litigation against Roche laboratory by taking action in favor of the latter . Novartis has obviously outweighed the Roche laboratory and obtained the monopoly of the sale of the famous AMD ( macular degeneration related to age), a product for the treatment of retinal disease . Yet the Roche laboratory proposed exactly the same products but at a more affordable price , even eight times lower than that of Novartis.
Regarding Professor , Chairman of the OFT and expert in pulmonology, Bertrand Dautzenberg , it was he who had the idea to advocate banning the use of electronic cigarettes in public places , so that it says at the same time in the report that this product is really less harmful than tobacco. We suspect more the latter to maintain a relationship with the interests of the big pharmaceutical companies .
Again, those who protest against this recommendation denounces Professor Dautzenberg has a hidden side . They recall that the latter was formerly the editor of the " Withdrawal - smoking - practice" magazine , a quarterly journal dedicated to healthcare professionals whose sole owner is none other than a great brand of pellets used for serfdom smoking . This is Nicorette Pfizer . The teacher also participates in numerous conferences organized by many American or French pharmaceutical companies such as GSK , Novartis Consumer Health and Pierre Fabre Santé ... So it would not be wrong to say that the lung would be the benefit of smoking cessation medications with its recommendations on e- cigarettes. "In the current state of knowledge , speed of onset of nicotine in the blood obtained with the e-cigarette is intermediate between that obtained with tobacco cigarettes and that obtained with oral nicotine replacement therapy currently available," this sentence he wrote in the report already amount to comparative advertising ...
"A good expert without interest link , it does not exist! Because he is good, he will be working to develop new treatments and , therefore , to conduct trials for the pharmaceutical industry . In my case for example , I clearly links with all manufacturers who offer nicotine replacement therapy . So I have no reason to favor one or the other, I even think that I run more labs they exploit me! "Are also speeches Professor at the same his interview with the Express, there just a few months ago ...
These facts, justified or not, reveal how the current system lacks control vis- à-vis links researchers with the pharmaceutical industry ... Avoid conflicts of interest before anything else would be a good initiative from the state before deciding on the future of a product that is apparently beneficial for a large part of the population of smokers and take a little hasty decisions that could instead harm the real interests of public health.
