The growing use of e-cigarettes, being touted as safer alternative to their paper-rolled peers, has become an alarming public health concern across the world. Most countries in the world are yet develop regulations on e-cigarettes and there is a mistaken notion being marketed by the Big Tobacco that switching to e-cigarettes helps a smoker to quit. 
E-cigarette, first developed in China in 2003, went on sale in the US and Europe in 2006. They are included in the category of ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems), products that use a liquid containing nicotine. A battery heats up liquid and the puffer inhales nicotine and exhales vapour; thus the term “vaping.”
Global sales of ENDS products are booming, according to the World Health Organisation. Within a decade, the industry has grown from a single manufacturer in China in 2005 to 466 brands on the market. More than $50bn may be spent annually on the devices worldwide by 2030 amid growing “concern about the role of the tobacco industry in this market” and the potential for the products to serve as a “gateway to nicotine addiction,” says WHO. Euromonitor estimates global sales of ENDS at more than $5bn in 2015, up from $2.8bn in 2014. 
The US Food and Drug Administration is worried about the impact of e-cigarettes and ENDS on children. The FDA estimates that “more than 3mn middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2015, up from an estimated 2.46mn in 2014.” It also reports that 16% “of high school and 5.3% of middle school students were current users of e-cigarettes in 2015, making e-cigarettes the most commonly used tobacco product among youth for the second consecutive year.” 
The FDA announced the first national e-cigarette regulations in May barring sales to minors, free samples and requiring nicotine-addiction warnings. The same month, the European Union’s Court of Justice upheld regulations banning e-cigarette advertising and limiting nicotine content.
E-cigarettes are banned in Qatar according to a ministry order in 2014. It is not allowed to sell or possess e-cigarettes in Qatar, said Dr Kholood al-Mutawaa, head, Non-Communicable Disease Department at the Ministry of Public Health, according to a Gulf Times report published on Feruary 14, 2016.
Mystery surrounds much of the mighty e-cigarette industry. The exact measurements of various chemicals in the cigarettes’ liquid cores have vary from product to product. There have also been reports of some e-cigarettes devices exploding in pockets or in the faces of users. ENDS devices also contain metal which can show up in vapour as particles small enough to be breathed in. 
Make no mistake; little evidence exists to suggest e-cigarettes are effective in helping smokers kick the habit. As many as 70% of adult e-cigarette users also continue smoking regular types, according to Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products.
Here is the bottomline: E-cigarettes are not safe. “The biggest thing is we know that smoking kills,” says Paul Riley, president of Philip Morris International’s Japan unit.