The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest warning on e-cigarettes, issued in late January 2020, has been met with strong pushback from public health experts in the UK, who have charged that WHO was “spreading blatant misinformation” about the potential risks and benefits of e-cigarettes.
On January 20, WHO released a document expressing reservations about the value of e-cigarettes and grave concerns about their risks. WHO stated “there is no doubt” that the devices “are harmful to health and are not safe, but it is too early to provide a clear answer on the long-term impact of using them or being exposed to them,” as well as suggesting “there is not enough evidence to support the use of these products for smoking cessation,” along with urging smokers looking to quit to try nicotine patches or gum, or other tools such as hotlines that counsel smokers.
In response, Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London, wrote in a statement released two days later by the UK Science Media Centre, “WHO has a history of anti-vaping activism that is damaging their reputation. This document is particularly malign.”
He added that, “There is no evidence that vaping is ‘highly addictive. Less than 1% of non-smokers become regular vapers. Vaping does not lead young people to smoking—smoking among young people is at [an] all-time low. … There is clear evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit.”
John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies and a consultant in respiratory medicine at the University of Nottingham said e-cigarettes are “clearly less harmful” than tobacco, and that “WHO misrepresents the available scientific evidence.”