A leading health expert calls on world governments to ‘ make full use ’ of the live saving capacity of vaping and other less harmful smoking alternatives .
Words : Patrick Griffin
A former adviser to three World Health Organization Directors- General says there is “ absolutely no doubt ” that vaping is the most effective way for smokers to quit . develop tobacco-related disease and die prematurely .” Dr Human said reduced-risk alternatives , such as vaping , were the solution and urged regulators to follow the UK ’ s example .
Dr Delon Human said the WHO is happy to promote harm reduction He said : “ Twelve years ago there were 10 million smokers in the UK in a number of fields , but refuses to do so for e-cigarettes . with almost no users of vaping products .
He said : “ The WHO says wearing a seatbelt gives a 35 percent better chance of surviving a road accident , but
“ Today there are almost four million when it comes to tobacco the message is vapers and smoking has dramatically either ‘ quit or die ’.” decreased .
“ In many ways , the UK has the best
Speaking at the FEELM-hosted event at Silverstone , he added : “ It is now beyond doubt that e-cigarettes are [ considerably ] less harmful than cigarettes , so why all the fuss ? “ Why is there a worldwide debate where the World Health Organization - the premier technical public health agency on Earth – still does not endorse the use of electronic cigarettes ?
“ The official statement is that more research needs to be done , but … this is , in real terms , costing lives .” Dr Human is president of Health Diplomats , a specialised health , nutrition and wellness consulting group which operates worldwide .
We want to see a shift to a more risk-proportionate , regulatory environment , to be applied to vaping products as has been adopted in the UK . practice in the world for tobacco harm reduction through the use of vaping products .”
Turning to managing risk , he said everyone had a greater understanding of how risk is communicated because of the COVID-19 pandemic . He added : “ As a global community , we ’ ve embraced risk assessment and risk communication and all we ask is that this is also done for tobacco and vaping products .
“ We want to see a shift to a more risk-proportionate , regulatory environment , to be applied to vaping products as has been adopted in the UK .
He said : “ We are at a crossroads in tobacco control where the big issue is that one-in-two of the 1.1 billion smokers in the world will
“ We are calling for a sensible system of regulation where we make full use of the life-saving capacity of these products .”
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