Stop claiming e-cigarettes help to quit smoking, says WHO

In a long-awaited report on how e-cigarettes should be regulated, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended wide-ranging restrictions, saying there is too little evidence of the long-term effect to not crack down on widespread use.

The organisation said that e-cigarettes should be restricted to over-18s, that they should be banned from being smoked indoors in public places, and that manufacturers should stop claiming they help smokers to quit unless there is firm evidence that this is the case.

Advertising and sweetened flavours should also be restricted, said WHO, pointing out that there is no evidence e-cigarettes do not pose a health risk to those who inhale smoke passively as bystanders, or to foetuses in the case of pregnant women.

I gave up a 40 a day habit using a vaporiser… Vaping was the only thing that worked as I didn’t have to give up the enjoyable smoking sensation. Helen Riches

“In summary, existing evidence shows that ENDS (electronic nicotine delivery systems) aerosol is not merely ‘water vapour’ as is often claimed in the marketing for these products,” the 13-page report read.

The number of adolescents who are experimenting with e-cigarettes has doubled between 2008 and 2012, said WHO, as it called on governments to bring in more regulations in this area. It said e-cigarettes may even be used as a “gateway” in to traditional smoking, rather than a way to give-up.

Photo: Customers puff on e-cigarettes at the Henley Vaporium in New York

Did e-cigarettes help you quit? Here’s what Channel 4 News readers said on Facebook:

Abir Samatar: It helped me to quit,i used it for two months then I wasn’t craving nicotine as bad I was before
Helen Riches: I gave up a 40 a day habit using a vaporiser. I tried nicotine patches, gum, tabs and that vile stuff you squirt into your mouth that is something akin to battery acid, all to no avail! … Vaping was the only thing that worked as I didn’t have to give up the enjoyable smoking sensation.
Anton Read: Have got me off tobacco and feel health benefits.
Darren Bates: They’re horrible disgusting things. Fully support the WHO here.
John Smith: The long term health effects are still unknown and anything which glamorises the “act” of smoking is a bad thing
Adina Ramona: Gave up cigs 8 months ago using an e cig and never looked back
Gordon Pye: People don’t smoke tobacco for the nicotine anyway and all ecigs make you do is overdose then start smoking again even heavier than before!
Val Thomson: Switching to ecigs is helping people quit and protecting others from passive smoking.Will alcohol be banned?

As more people give up smoking traditional cigarettes, there has been an uptake in electronic cigarettes, which use battery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced inhalable vapour. Major tobacco companies including Imperial Tobacco, Altria Group, Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco are increasingly getting in on the act and making their own e-cigarette brands.

They are widely considered to be less harmful than traditional nicotine cigarettes, and sales have rocketed in the last two years – analysts estimate the industry had worldwide sales of some $3bn in 2013. The word “vape” was even introduced to the Oxford dictionaries earler this year, proving the rise in use of the word to inhale and exhale e-cigarette vapour.

Experts divided

But because e-cigarettes have not been around for long, there is little evidence about the long-term effects, and experts are divided.

In May, one group of researchers recommended WHO not to classify them as tobacco products, saying that this would also wipe out the opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking that e-cigarettes offer. Campaigners argue that they are far better than traditional cigarettes, but allow former smokers to feel like they aren’t missing out.

But then just one month later, another group said that WHO should go ahead with its planned restrictions for their use. Some medical experts worry that e-cigarettes are perceived as harmless by the public.

The report released on Tuesday, with all the restrictions, is WHO’s conclusion.