Member Article

Meet the business helping to regulate the e-cigarette market

EL-Science technical director Shaun Wedgwood and chief scientific officer Dr. Jaydene Halliday have spoken out about the existing regulation of the E-Liquid market and how they are leading the way in terms of quality control in the industry.

With a recent report from Public Health England stating that e-cigarettes are 95% safer than a regular cigarettes, the team over at EL-Science want to give the general public an insight into how they are helping to regulate the fledgling industry and what the future holds for vaping.

“We approach the eLiquid market from a chemical point of view rather than a retail one” commented Shaun. “Our team of chemists analyse every single batch of eLiquid we produce as opposed to the vast majority of companies in the industry whose quality control procedures are far less stringent”

Currently the eLiquid market is unregulated, which means anybody can create their own eLiquid product and sell it. This makes the checks by EL-Science essential for consumer peace of mind.

The company based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, is fast developing a reputation in the industry for its high standards of analysis, so much so that other companies are sending over their products to get the EL-Science seal of approval.

“We’re trying to set the gold standard for eLiquid regulation in the UK. On every bottle of eLiquid that we manufacture, we include a hologram on the bottle, which signifies that the contents have met our analytical criteria and deserve our stamp of approval”

Regulation of e-cigarettes is expected to come into law in May 2016 as article 20 of the Tobacco Products Directive comes into full effect.* This means that the manufacturing, selling and advertising of e-cigarettes will have similar restrictions placed on them as tobacco products.

“We also offer a service to help other companies adhere to these regulations,” commented Dr Halliday. “We help them submit their technical dossiers and talk them through what they need to do. We’re trying to make sure that the industry is ready for the May 2016 deadline”.

Because public awareness of the science behind eLiquids is still very low, EL-Science also includes a unique code on the back of their bottles so users can find out exactly what goes into the finished product.

“We want to be completely transparent about the raw ingredients involved in creating eLiquid and our methods of analysis. Off the back of the Public Health England report, we want to show to the public exactly why e-cigarettes are the safer alternative to cigarettes.”

The topic of “vaping” in public places is also a hot topic, with many bars and restaurants deciding to ban the practice on their premises. It’s a decision that the team believes the owners are more than entitled to make.

Technical director Shaun Wedgwood comments, “We’re definitely of the opinion that the decision to ban e-cigarettes in establishments should be for management to decide and not the government. Vaping should be done respectfully and only if authorised.”

Dr Jaydene Halliday said, “We don’t agree with people being forced to vape in a smoking area. Making people who are trying to quit stand next to those who are producing second hand smoke is unfair, and in our opinion there should be separate areas for smokers and vapers”.

EL-Science also provides training courses for companies on vaping policy, which breaks down the scientific side of e-cigarettes.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by EL-Science .