The World Health Organization has urged governments to ban all flavors in e-cigarettes, treating them like combustible products.
While some consider e-cigarettes a key to reducing death and disease caused by smoking, the WHO said “urgent measures” are needed to control them, according to Reuters.
“Kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
Regulating vapes like cigarettes would only serve to reinforce misunderstandings about the relative risks of vaping and send the wrong message to smokers.
He urged countries to implement strict measures, such as bans on all flavors and introducing tobacco control measures to vapor products. These would include high taxes and vape bans in public places.
While the WHO does not have authority over national regulations, its recommendations are often voluntarily adopted.
“Regulating vapes like cigarettes would only serve to reinforce misunderstandings about the relative risks of vaping and send the wrong message to smokers,” said Marina Murphy, senior director of scientific and medical affairs at ANDS, adding that the WHO’s position was “detached from reality.”