Public Health Group Criticizes WHO Report on Electronic Cigarettes
Manila, Philippines – A public health advocacy group based in the Philippines has expressed disappointment with the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the use of electronic cigarettes. Quit for Good, a non-profit organization focused on helping smokers quit, has criticized the global body for undermining the significant progress made in public health over the past two decades as smokers transitioned to smoke-free products.
Dr. Lorenzo Mata Jr., president of Quit for Good, has stated that the WHO’s continued demonization of e-cigarettes disregards the wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of smoke-free alternatives such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and snus in helping millions of smokers successfully quit in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and Sweden.
“The best available clinical and population studies consistently show that vaping has led to adult smoking cessation. While it is necessary to monitor youth vaping, a complete ban on e-cigarettes will only exacerbate the smoking epidemic and its associated serious health conditions,” said Dr. Mata.
As a Filipino physician, Dr. Mata also pointed out that the WHO’s failure to differentiate between the risks of e-cigarettes and combustible tobacco is unscientific.
Last month, the WHO issued a statement calling for urgent action to safeguard children and prevent the adoption of e-cigarettes. However, Quit for Good has accused the WHO of misrepresenting the scientific evidence to fit its predetermined conclusion to ban or heavily regulate e-cigarettes.
According to data provided by the WHO, the global market for electronic cigarettes grew from $7.806 billion in 2015 to $22.349 million in 2022. However, Dr. Mata has criticized the WHO’s analysis of the situation, stating that it fails to acknowledge the significant decline in harmful substance exposure resulting from smokers switching to e-cigarettes and other smoke-free alternatives.
“E-cigarettes do not threaten public health but provide smokers with an exit from smoking, which is the real problem. Labeling these innovative products an emerging threat to public health is worrisome because the WHO essentially tells smokers that continuing smoking is better than switching to e-cigarettes. This is patently wrong,” he said.
Quit for Good has also highlighted that countries that have banned e-cigarettes have not eradicated vaping but have instead created an unregulated underground market, posing risks to public health due to the absence of regulatory standards.
Dr. Mata has also emphasized that these bans only benefit unscrupulous criminal gangs that are happy to sell these products to anyone, including children, without any controls on ingredients or production.
Independent public health experts have also spoken out in support of smoke-free alternatives such as e-cigarettes, stating that they offer an opportunity to combat smoking-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and lung disease by transitioning to nicotine products with significantly reduced risk and no combustion.
Professor Peter Hajek, Director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, has stated, “Given the tremendous benefits this transition would bring to public health, it is paradoxical that the WHO has adopted such a strident anti-vaping stance that risks impeding this progress. This new report perpetuates this tradition, calling for a ban on less risky alternatives while freely allowing the sale of tobacco. The report misrepresents evidence and should come with a prominent health warning.”
Professor John Britton, an emeritus professor of Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, has also criticized the WHO for failing to differentiate between addiction to tobacco smoking, which leads to millions of deaths annually, and addiction to nicotine, which does not.
“The WHO appears content with the inconsistency of recommending medicinal nicotine products for treating smoking addiction while advocating the prohibition of consumer nicotine products that serve the same purpose, but more effectively. The WHO is correct in discouraging non-smokers, particularly children, from using any nicotine product. However, for over a billion tobacco smokers worldwide, electronic nicotine delivery systems are part of the solution, not the problem,” Prof. Britton said.
Dr. Mata has concluded by stating that many countries, including the Philippines, have chosen to embrace scientific evidence and regulate the use of innovative smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes to provide smokers with better options to quit.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.