WHO urged not to "suppress and control" e-cigarettes

Calls for the WHO to resist tough laws on e-cigarettes come soon after a leaked document recommended it noticed the device as a ‘threat’. Photograph: Richard Coombs/Alamy

Public well being specialists in the Uk have urged the Planet Well being Organisation not to “handle and suppress” e-cigarettes as it prepares to publish global tips on the devices.

A letter signed by more than 50 researchers and professionals, including Prof Robert West of University University London, stated e-cigarettes had the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives.

It urged the WHO not to impose rules on the devices in the same way it does with traditional cigarettes.

The global health adviser is preparing to publish recommendations about e-cigarettes to governments later on this 12 months.

The letter, noticed by the BBC, said: “These goods could be between the most considerable well being innovations of the 21st century – possibly saving hundreds of millions of lives. If regulators treat reduced-danger nicotine products as conventional tobacco products … they are improperly defining them as element of the problem.

“Regulators must stay away from help for measures that could have the perverse impact of prolonging cigarette consumption.”

The signatories, who also consist of authorities who have advised the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on its guidelines about decreasing the harm from tobacco, published the letter after claiming to have witnessed a leaked document from the WHO which labelled e-cigarettes as a “threat”.

A WHO spokesman told the BBC: “WHO is presently operating on recommendations for governments on the regulation and advertising of e-cigarettes and comparable units. This is portion of a paper that will be submitted to the events of the WHO framework convention on tobacco manage later on this 12 months.

“We are also operating with nationwide regulatory bodies to seem at regulatory possibilities, as nicely as toxicology experts, to understand a lot more about the feasible impact of e-cigarettes and equivalent products on well being.”

Analysis published last week by West found e-cigarettes can aid improve the success rate of folks trying to quit smoking by 60% in contrast with nicotine patches or gum.

But critics say that not ample is acknowledged about the long-phrase results of the products, which supply nicotine in a vapour.

WHO urged not to "suppress and control" e-cigarettes