WHO says e-cigarettes, "smoke-free" products do not help reduce cancer (updated)
26/07/2019 20:25
(Adds detail, company comment)
By Tom Miles
GENEVA, July 26 (Reuters) - Electronic cigarettes and heated
tobacco products are not helping fight cancer, the World Health
Organization (WHO) said on Friday, urging smokers and
governments not to trust claims from cigarette firms about their
latest products.
The seventh "WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic" said
blocking the industry's interference was critical to cutting the
harm from tobacco use.
"The tobacco industry has a long history of systemic,
aggressive, sustained and well-resourced opposition to tobacco
control measures," the report said.
"While some strategies are public and others more covert...
all have the goal of weakening tobacco control."
The report said tobacco giant Philip Morris International
PMI.N was trying to position itself as a responsible public
health partner via its "Unsmoke" campaign, which encourages
people to "change to a better alternative".
The WHO said the campaign aimed to ensure tobacco remained
socially acceptable, while confusing consumers with terms such
as "smoke-free products", which may refer to products with toxic
emissions and unknown short-term and long-term health effects.
Philip Morris spokesman Ryan Sparrow said the WHO's message
made it harder to provide safer options for people who cannot
quit smoking.
"There is no question that the best choice for smokers is to
quit cigarettes and nicotine altogether. The reality is many
people do not. We cannot turn our backs on them," he said.
"Organisations like the World Health Organization need to stop
talking at smokers and start listening."
The WHO report said the industry hoped to win respectability
through manipulative messages such as claiming their products
were part of a "harm reduction" strategy, even though cigarettes
still account for 97% of the global tobacco market.
Vinayak Prasad, programme manager of WHO's tobacco control
unit, said development of new products was solely intended to
expand the markets of tobacco firms.
"There is no difference between cigarettes and heated
tobacco products except that in terms of exposure: the exposure
is less and the smoke is not visible," he said.
Electronic cigarettes, containing nicotine but not tobacco,
were promoted as a way to quit smoking. But there was no
evidence to justify the claim, and evidence from the United
States showed they had increased the prevalence of young people
smoking, he said.
"So it's also a gateway for young people," Prasad said.
"The answer is it needs to be regulated. WHO has clear
guidelines – to get electronic cigarettes regulated. And if you
are banning it, fine, but if you aren't banning it don't let it
(go) free in the market, because the young people are taking it
up."
(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by David Evans)
((tom.miles@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 2006; Reuters
Messaging: tom.miles.reuters.com@reuters.net))