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Back to the politics of vaping
John Britton, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, UK: “E-cigarette use has been a consumer led revolution and grown as a bottom-up public health initiative that could save millions of lives. It has moved at a speed that shows just how much smokers want and will choose nicotine products that don’t kill. I hope the WHO and all public health decision makers can recognise and harness the health opportunities that e-cigarettes can provide.”
In light of the open letter, the American Council on Science and Health commented “The WHO itself has predicted that, if current trends continue, one-billion lives will be cut short this century due to “tobacco.” What the WHO, the EU, and indeed our own CDC and other regulators fail to acknowledge is that almost all of those dead and sickened will suffer the effects of cigarette smoking. Other forms of tobacco are about 99 percent less harmful than smoke, especially including snus-type smokeless.”
They have asked for the WHO to encourage governments to adopt preferential taxation policies to encourage the take up of vaping. They have called for a rethink on advocating the banning of ecig advertising as an educated population is better able to make informed choices.
The 53 have also called for decisions to be influenced by a team of experts and grounded in good science rather than using the likes of Professor Glantz to manipulate findings to present worst case scenarios as if they were fact.
The media coverage of this event was unprecedented for vaping, reaching the number one spot in all online news media by 9am on Thursday.
Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies at University College in London said “For the WHO to suggest that e-cigarettes are as risky as other tobacco products would send an erroneous and bleak message to the millions of current e-cigarette users who have used them to quit smoking. It would discourage smokers from trying them and we would miss out on a major opportunity to reduce smoke related deaths globally.”
How this will effect what will happen at the WHO meeting in August, the legislation from the EU and how it is implemented in the UK remains to be seen, but for those of us media watchers it will certainly make interesting reading and viewing.
