Vapouround Magazine ISSUE 35 | Page 60

FEATURE

WHY WE SHOULD IGNORE THE WHO ’ S ANTI-VAPING AGENDA

Governments the world over are being encouraged to disregard WHO advice and implement vape-friendly public health policies instead .
Words : Patrick Griffin
The World Health Organization has such enormous influence that any bad policy decisions it makes could soon reverberate around the world . In our previous article we reported that the Institute of Economic Affairs ( IEA ) described it as the ‘ enemy of vaping ’ in a recent online forum . The fear is that if the WHO takes the opportunity to call for new vaping bans at the forthcoming COP9 conference , then many countries would follow its lead . Louis Houlbrooke , Campaigns Manager at New Zealand Taxpayers ’ Union said : “ The value the WHO provides to governments across the world is this godlike voice saying : ‘ Thou shalt crack down on vaping ’ “ And when governments do that , the politicians feel special … they feel like world leaders .” However he said smaller countries should have the courage to follow the example of New Zealand which has embraced vaping and seen smoking rates decline as a result . He said : “ This is a truly fantastic result that was born out of something that differs completely from the WHO ’ s orthodoxy . “ The lesson here is that small countries should have the confidence to say that they don ’ t need to listen to the WHO . They can carve out an independent course for themselves .” Christopher Snowdon , Head of Lifestyle Economics at the IEA , also backed calls for regulators to ignore the WHO ’ s anti-vaping agenda . He said : “ The benefits that we ’ ve seen in the UK , could be multiplied many times over if they were replicated in other countries , but it ’ s not being allowed to happen . “ There is growing ignorance about tobacco harm reduction and the reason for this is endless scare stories in the press . “ An absolute tidal wave of junk science is pushing people ’ s knowledge about this topic backwards . “ Ten years ago , when no one really knew anything about e-cigarettes , people were actually better informed about their relative risks than they are now .”
“ Small countries should have the confidence to say that they don ’ t need to listen to the WHO … they can carve out an independent course for themselves .”
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