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Vaping is not safe and is harmful to health, WHO says, both for users and bystanders
- UN agency report says there is clear evidence e-cigarettes are dangerous, but not that they help smokers quit
- It demands tight regulation of the products, including bans on marketing to young people and on use in indoor workplaces and public spaces
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Electronic cigarettes are harmful both to users and bystanders exposed to the fumes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says in a report, warning that they can damage growing fetuses and affect teenagers’ brains.
So-called electronic nicotine delivery systems, or Ends, have been pushed by producers as well as some governments as a safer alternative to smoking, and as a path to kicking the habit.
But in a strongly worded series of questions and answers about such e-cigarettes in a document published on Tuesday, the WHO said that there was not enough evidence to say they help smokers quit, but that there was clear evidence they are dangerous.
“There is no doubt that they are harmful to health and are not safe,” the WHO said in one answer, stressing though that “it is too early to provide a clear answer on the long-term impact of using them or being exposed to them”.
The battery-powered devices that enable users to inhale addictive nicotine liquids and exhale vapour “are particularly risky when used by adolescents”, the WHO said, strengthening initial warnings it made in 2019.
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