Electronic cigarette health risks

In 2010 the Tobacco Regulation meeting held in Uruguay came out with warnings about electronic cigarettes. Signatories of the meeting's treaty included representatives of countries such as Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia, where electronic cigarettes had been banned.

TheWorld Health Organizationstated in September 2008 that it did not consider electronic cigarettes to be a legitimatesmoking cessationaid. It demanded that marketers immediately remove from their materials any suggestions that the WHO considers electronic cigarettes safe and effective.The WHO states that to its knowledge, "No rigorous, peer-reviewed studies have been conducted showing that the electronic cigarette is a safe and effectivenicotine replacement therapy. WHO does not discount the possibility that the electronic cigarette could be useful as a smoking cessation aid?" WHO Tobacco Free Initiative director ad interim Douglas Bettcher stated that claims that electronic cigarette can help smokers quit need to be backed up by clinical studies and toxicity analyses and operate within the prop er regulatory framework. He added: "Until they do that, WHO cannot consider the electronic cigarette to be an appropriate nicotine replacement therapy, and it certainly cannot accept false suggestions that it has approved and endorsed the product.

The secretariat of the meeting refused and stated that electronic cigarettes do not violate articles 9 and 10 of the framework convention for tobacco control regarding COMPOSITION (toxins, carcinogens, and harm to self) or EMISSIONS (second hand smoke or harm to others). The secretariat stated that the problems regarding electronic cigarettes relate to regulatory issues and not to the work that the convention is tasked with. In the memo they also mentioned that electronic cigarettes can be considered a medical product only IF the marketer wanted to make medical claims, otherwise they are a tobacco product.

WHO does not discount the possibility that the electronic cigarette could be useful as a smoking cessation aid?" WHO Tobacco Free Initiative director ad interim Douglas Bettcher stated that claims that electronic cigarette can help smokers quit need to be backed up by clinical studies and toxicity analyses and operate within the proper regulatory framework. He added: "Until they do that, WHO cannot consider the electronic cigarette to be an appropriate nicotine replacement therapy, and it certainly cannot accept false suggestions that it has approved and endorsed the product.

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