The lack of support for e-cigarettes from the WHO does not pass! Knowledge Action Change Criticizes World Health Organization support for countries that ban e-cigarettes and says it is neglecting an international treaty endorsing these less harmful tobacco alternatives
WHO STILL DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT E-CIGARETTE OR SNUS!
As delegates gather for the World Health Organization (WHO) biennial tobacco conference, the report's authors, “ No Fire, No Smoke: Global State Tobacco Harm Reduction (No fire, no smoke: the global state of tobacco risk reduction) strongly denounce the WHO's conclusions. Public health experts accuse the WHO of failing to meet international treaty obligations to support less harmful alternatives to smoking. They deplore that instead of following these recommendations, the WHO supports the ban on electronic cigarettes, a decision that has been applied in a dozen countries.
The authors of No Fire, No Smoke Claim that less harmful alternatives such as electronic cigarettes, tobacco products that are heated without combustion ("heat-not-burn" devices) and snus, Swedish sucking tobacco, have played a major role in reducing smoking. They also stress that the WHO has never ceased to show its hostility to these products.
« WHO neglects its own treaty which obliges signatories to adopt harm reduction measures encouraging nicotine products 
safer. This missed opportunity to save millions of lives over the century is tragic , Says the professor Gerry Stimson from Knowledge Action Change (London) who commissioned the report.
The report cites the 39 countries that have banned e-cigarettes and nicotine liquids, including Australia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. The European Union allows electronic cigarettes but bans pasteurized oral tobacco (snus) which is very popular in Scandinavia.
Following the introduction of snus in Norway, the smoking rate among young women fell from 30% to just 1%. In the United States, the rapid increase in e-cigarette use has been accompanied by a drop in smoking among school-age children, with the number halving in the past six years. While in Japan, the success of heated tobacco products has resulted in a 25% drop in cigarette sales over the past two years.
« A review of the data strikingly shows that a strong link associates access to these substitutes with plummeting smoking rates. Whatever the reasons which have motivated these countries to ban them, they must realize that by doing so they become the best friends of the tobacco industry. »Says Harry Shapiro, the lead author of the report.
While the European Union refuses to allow snus, the bans on the use of electronic cigarettes in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region are raising many concerns.
« Many of the vapers I represent live in fear of being arrested as they try to preserve their health. Their countries allow deadly cigarettes but make e-cigarettes much less harmful illegal because the WHO urged their ban "Says Nancy Sutthoff Consumer Group International Network of Nicotine Consumers Organizations.
181 countries will participate in the WHO Policy Development Conference. All have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires them to integrate harm reduction. However, the WHO event is far from inclusive. In previous years, the organization banned consumers, journalists and institutions such as Interpol from participating.
The report " No Fire, No Smoke: Global State Tobacco Harm Reduction And this press release are published by Knowledge Action Change, a private sector public health agency.
Source : Lelezard.com/
