The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the United Kingdom's version of the FDA, wants to classify electronic cigarettes as a drug device. To that end they had scheduled a consultation meeting where they hoped to gain support from expert testimony for their recent proposal of giving e-cigarette manufacturers just two weeks to license the product as a drug under their jurisdiction, a process which usually takes two years.

On its website, Action on Smoking and Health makes a number of claims regarding smoking, including that the very breath and smell of smokers, even when they are not smoking, can be extremely hazardous to people's health.

ASH's Health Claims | Professor Brad Rodu | Professor Michael Siegel | Professor Carl Phillips

ASH.org's Health Claims

1. 30 minutes of exposure to drifting tobacco smoke can trigger a fatal heart attack.

ASH states that: "...someone else’s smoke can kill you if even if you can barely smell it, and even if you can’t smell it."

2. E Cigarettes pose dangers for both smokers and non-smokers.

According to ASH, electronic cigarettes are dangerous both for smokers and non-smokers.

3. Third hand smoke can pose serious risks for non-smokers.

Proven or not, this claim has been used to: