BLACKBURN, England, March 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Will the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP Ban all Tobacco products on 21st June 2010?

The MHRA, the nation's Health regulators, have created for Mr. Burnham a golden opportunity to ban ALL tobacco products in the UK for good on the 21st June.

This would save 1 life every 6 minutes in the UK.

The MHRA's consultation paper, MLX 364, claims that every product containing nicotine should be classed as a medicine, and should therefore fall under their regulatory framework. In essence, they want to regulate for only one reason -- to ban Electronic Cigarettes.

The Electronic Cigarette's increasing popularity as an alternative recreational nicotine delivery system seems to offend the MHRA's pay-masters: the large pharmaceutical companies.

As an act of appeasement, they have cobbled together a seriously flawed consultation document, MLX 364. This document attempts to class all nicotine containing products - whether recreationally or medicinally used - as medicines, and ban the lot on the 21st June.

Tobacco-based cigarettes do contain nicotine. Andy Burnham should ban them while he has the chance.

There is no Tobacco law that states a cigarette or cigar cannot be classed as a Nicotine Containing Product. It is, and it can. So why is smoking tobacco being favoured over less harmful nicotine products?

Jason Cropper, Managing Director of The Electronic Cigarette Company challenges the nation's Health Minister and heath regulators to explain to the public why they want to ban Electronic Cigarettes that harm no one, yet sanction and protect in the same policy document killer tobacco cigarettes.

This hypocrisy of this policy beggars belief.

Cropper says:

The public is unaware that the revolutionary Electronic Cigarette, a fantastic recreational nicotine delivery system, is to be banned on the 21st of June. Cropper goes on to say: Andy Burnham, Minister for Health, agrees that it's safer to ban Electronic Cigarettes that have killed nobody since their invention in 2003, yet he appears to be in cahoots with the MHRA, who are actively regulating to save a product that kills 1 person every six minutes in this country.

It begs the question, WHY?

It would appear that whoever pays the Piper gets rewarded: the MHRA collects its revenues from the big pharmaceutical companies, and they get rewarded with scandalous favoritism, said Cropper.

Under this consultation process, our esteemed Health Minister, the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham snubs his chance to save the lives of over 140 UK citizens a day - from now till eternity - by excluding tobacco cigarettes in this new legislation.

Electronic Cigarettes aren't the enemy - real cigarettes are.

Andy Burnham: you should throw MLX364 in the bin and save smokers from being given only one deadly way of getting their recreational nicotine, said Cropper.

For More Information: http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.co.uk/products/electronic-cigarette-sta... http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Publications/Consultations/Medicinesconsultations... http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Speeches/DH_109450

SOURCE: The Electronic Cigarette Company

CONTACT: Jason Cropper of The Electronic Cigarette Company ,-+4401254-690938, pillbox3840@yahoo.com