The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a ban on flavored vapes in a Thursday news release.
The WHO said in countries which “permit commercialization (sale, importation, distribution and manufacture) of e-cigarettes as consumer products” measures like “banning all” flavors of e-cigarettes, putting limits on “the concentration and quality of nicotine” and taxing e-cigarettes are needed to “prevent uptake of e-cigarettes and counter nicotine addiction” in the release.
“Urgent action is needed to control e-cigarettes to protect children, as well as non-smokers and minimize health harms to the population,” the WHO release read. “E-cigarettes as consumer products are not shown to be effective for quitting tobacco use at the population level. Instead, alarming evidence has emerged on adverse population health effects.”
A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study from July found that over one in 10 Americans ages 18 to 24 are using e-cigarettes regularly.
“Kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the release. “I urge countries to implement strict measures to prevent uptake to protect their citizens, especially their children and young people.”
The American Heart Association (AHA) said the use of e-cigarettes is harmful to heart and lungs in a scientific statement also in July.
“There has also been research indicating that even when nicotine is not present, ingredients in e-cigarettes, particularly flavoring agents, independently carry risks associated with heart and lung diseases in animals,” volunteer chair of the AHA scientific statement writing committee Jason Rose said in the scientific statement. “Negative effects of e-cigarettes have been shown through in vitro studies and in studies of individuals exposed to chemicals in commercially available products.”
