Turkey to Ban E-Cigarettes

In a baffling move that shows a complete disconnect with reality (or, much more likely, a high degree of political corruption), the Turkish Health Ministry has announced plans for a total nationwide ban on e-cigarettes.

Their justification appears to be that they believe e-cigarettes to be essentially the same as conventional cigarettes, which is obviously and ridiculously false.  It seems more likely that this is a move being made spitefully and punitively — although Turkey started requiring a complicated and difficult licensing process to sell e-cigarettes in 2008, apparently nobody to date has applied for such a license.

It would seem that the Health Ministry of Turkey is far more concerned with propping up the country’s massive tobacco industry: Turkey provides approximately 4% of the world’s tobacco, only trailing a the much larger countries of China, India, the United States, and Brazil (the last of which has also, not surprisingly, pushed for e-cigarette bans).

It seems small comfort to find that the health authorities of countries other than the U.S. are also in the pockets of the global tobacco industry.

Turkish Health Ministry plans e-cigarette ban – World Bulletin

Turkey to Ban E-Cigarettes