WHO Urges Global Ban on Flavored E-Cigarettes
Matthew Ma
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for governments worldwide to tightly regulate e-cigarettes, including bans on flavors that appeal to youth, posing a threat to cigarette companies investing in smoking alternatives.
Some view vaping devices as vital quit-smoking aids that reduce tobacco harms. But amid rising youth vaping rates, the WHO warned urgent policy action is critical.
Citing recent studies, the U.N. health agency challenged industry safety claims, saying evidence on vaping's effectiveness for quitting traditional cigarettes is inconclusive, while growing research links vaping to heart, lung and brain health risks.
Their most urgent concern is surging teen vaping levels attributed partly to flavors and marketing strategies "recruiting" children and adolescents.
"Kids are being trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine," said WHO's Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
To curb youth uptake, the WHO report advocated total flavor bans, high e-cigarette taxes similar to tobacco, restricting device access through minimum age laws, marketing restrictions and bans on using vapor products in public indoor spaces.
While not binding, WHO technical reports strongly influence many country health policies. However, enforcement of prohibition-based models is complex, as seen in the global war on drugs.
Some tobacco control experts maintain vaping - while not harm-free - poses substantially less population risks than smoking based on current evidence. If sensibly regulated, they present an opportunity to accelerate declines in cigarette use.
The tobacco industry also views e-cigarettes as pivotal harm reduction products. Major cigarette companies have invested billions acquiring vaping brands and transitioning business models towards smoke-free nicotine alternatives to future-proof revenues as smoking rates fall worldwide.
They say bans remove safer options, risk driving ex-smoking vapers back to harmful cigarettes and foster black markets with no oversight on production standards or youth access controls.