Doctors urge WHO not to be swayed by tobacco industry in regulating e-cigarettes

A group of 129 public health doctors have written to the head of the World Health Organization, urging her to stick to the evidence when deciding how to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and to resist attempts by manufacturers to align themselves as “partners” in reducing the harm from tobacco.1

The letter to Margaret Chan, director general of WHO, warned that manufacturers of e-cigarettes “are making a range of false and unproven claims, misleading the public into thinking these products are harmless (they are not) and effective cessation aids (unknown).” It added that most people who used e-cigarettes continued to smoke cigarettes and that evidence showed that these people were unlikely to benefit …