WHO calls for ban on flavored vapes

The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a ban on flavored vaping devices in a Thursday news release.

The WHO said in countries that “permit commercialization (sale, importation, distribution and manufacture) of e-cigarettes as consumer products” measures like “banning all” flavors of electronic 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 wrote in the release. “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 and Prevention (CDC) study from July found that more than 1 in 10 Americans age 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 from 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,” Jason Rose, volunteer chair of the AHA scientific statement writing committee, 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.”