Introduction:
Vaping industry has been promoting Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) or E-Cigarettes as a “less harmful” option and especially targeting youth. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India had sent an advisory to all states in India to ban these products. E-cigarettes were becoming popular in India and as state governments and the Central government contemplated banning ENDS, the ENDS makers were mounting a counter campaign.

Objectives:
Help the Government to ban ENDS in India.

Methods:
A letter to the Prime Minister was written where doctors were asked to be signatories. The VoTV network of 400 doctors in 28 states in India reached out to their fellow doctors to support the ban on ENDS and sign the letter. Calls to the doctors and constant messaging in the existing VoTV state WhatsApp groups were made from the team of VoTV.

Results:
1061 medical doctors in 6 days gave their assent to the letter against ENDS which was then sent to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health & Family Welfare. The letter was then released to the media and was widely covered in the news. This letter was acknowledged as a support to the Ministry in pushing their case for an Ordinance banning ENDS in India. ENDS were banned in India on 18th September 2019 by an Ordinance.

Conclusion(s):
Such campaigns where doctors, who are the experts, come together to fight for such a cause yield results. As the adage goes, “prevention is better than cure”, this has saved India from an epidemic.