W.H.O. INTERVIEW ON E-CIGARETTES

Monday, 1st of December 2014

W.H.O. INTERVIEW ON E-CIGARETTES

Excerpt below; full text is at http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/12/14-031214.pdf

Q: What role do multinational companies play in the new and growing e-cigarettes market? A: Some people say that WHO is more concerned about beating the tobacco industry than ending the smoking epidemic, even if one of their products, namely e-cigarettes, can help. This view is naive, because the tobacco industry only markets products that it considers capable of perpetuating their core and most profitable product – conventional cigarettes. Unlike those who advocate e-cigarettes as a form of harm reduction, the tobacco industry is clearly not convinced that e-cigarettes will advance smoking cessation efforts, otherwise they would not be aggressively buying up small e-cigarette companies. There have been an estimated 100 million deaths due to tobacco over the last century. How can we trust the companies that caused this human disaster? By appearing to offer a solution with one hand, while continuing to create mass destruction with the other, the tobacco industry is trying to regain the respect - ability it lost long ago. The manufacturers of cigarettes and other tobacco products cannot be legitimate partners in any public health discussion. Q: By burdening small e-cigarette companies with regulation, won’t you be giving a free hand to multinational tobacco companies which are keen to take over the e-cigarettes market? A: The tobacco industry is already overpowering the smaller e-cigarette manufacturers as a result of market competition and in the absence of significant regulation. The fate of the small e-cigarette producers is being decided by the tobacco industry, which is attacking other players with the intention of expel - ling them from the marketplace so that it can take complete control. E-cigarette regulations are designed to protect public health and to be effective. They should be applied to all market players, large or small, the same way other products are regulated. As indicated in the WHO report, our proposed regulatory measures aim to maximize the potential benefits of e-cigarettes and minimize their risks.