52 researchers from all over the world have written to the WHO to protest against the organization's policy of electronic cigarette.
According to them, one billion deaths could be avoided
The WHO predicts that one billion lives will be lost to tobacco by 2100.
But according to these researchers, this number can be considerably reduced...thanks to the electronic cigarette.
They are asking the WHO to stop classifying vaporizers in the same category as products containing tobacco (conventional cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, pipes, cigars, etc.).
What they say about electronic cigarettes
One of the scientists, Gerry Stimson, Professor Emeritus at Imperial College London, argued that:
"If the WHO gets its way and eradicates vaping, it will not only destroy what is one of the greatest public health innovations of the last thirty years, but it will also contradict its own charter, which includes the right to allow consumers to take control of their own health."
"E-cigarette use is a revolution that could save millions of lives," said John Britton, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, UK.
"The speed at which this innovation is spreading shows just how much demand there is among smokers for non-lethal nicotine products. I hope that the WHO and all public health decision-makers will recognize and exploit the public health potential of e-cigarettes.
This move has had implications for some European governments, in particular Wales, which is pushing for laws unfavorable to vaping. Similar legislation in Spain has led to a 70% drop in e-cigarette sales.
Find out more about this defense of electronic cigarettes