health experts defend ecigarettes
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Despite concerns

Health experts defend e-cigarettes

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Health experts defend e-cigarettes

E-cigarette
Abu Dhabi - Arab Today

Health experts at an anti-tobacco conference in Abu Dhabi defended e-cigarettes on Friday, dismissing widespread concerns that the devices could lure adolescents into nicotine addiction.
Most experts agreed, however, that use of the devices, about which research warns that not enough is yet known, should be regulated.
Konstantinos Farsalinos, researcher from Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre in Athens, told AFP that in a study of nearly 19,500 people, mainly in the United States and Europe, 81 percent said they had stopped smoking by using e-cigarettes.
"In fact, they quit smoking very easily within the first month of the e-cigarette use on average," he said.
"That’s something you don't see with any other method of smoking cessation."
But on Wednesday, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan backed governments that are "banning... regulating" e-cigarette use.
She was speaking to reporters at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health, hosted by the capital of the United Arab Emirates which has so far banned the devices.
"Non-smoking is the norm and e-cigarettes will derail that normality thinking, because it will attract especially young people to take up smoking," said Chan.
"So I do not support that."
But for Jean-Francois Etter, associate professor at Geneva University, "e-cigarettes and nicotine and tobacco vapourisers should not be excessively regulated".
This could "decrease the numbers of smokers who switch to these new products", benefiting "only the big tobacco industry" whose leaders "will be able to survive in a tightly regulated environment".
Etter called the WHO stance on e-cigarettes "political".
"I think that the WHO people should know better than kill alternatives to smoking cigarettes," he said.
E-cigarettes were first produced in China in 2003, and have since spread globally.
They have sparked what several participants at the gathering called a "very divisive debate".
- Six million deaths annually -
Alan Blum, a family doctor and director of The University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, says he would usually recommend e-cigarettes to patients trying to quit, rather than "give a pharmaceutical product which has side effects and which have not worked very well".
But he also warned that e-cigarettes are being used by schoolchildren and that some people use cannabis and marijuana in the devices.
Citing a yet unpublished study, Farsalinos insisted that "if three percent of smokers switch to e-cigarettes we are going to save about two million lives in the next 20 years".
The WHO says that tobacco kills nearly six million people a year and that unless urgent action is taken, the annual death toll could rise to eight million by 2030.
E-cigarette advocates argue that the device offers the smoker nicotine in a liquid, thus preventing the combustion of tobacco that releases most toxins.
"Alternatives to smoking do not need to be 100 percent safe, they just need to be much safer than tobacco cigarettes," Etter said.
"You choose the lesser of two evils."
A German delegate who requested anonymity argued that e-cigarettes will only lead to "dual use".
Smokers will use e-cigarettes in places where they are not allowed to smoke while using traditional cigarettes when they can, she argued.
"This increases nicotine addiction because they smoke and take nicotine all the time. This makes it much worse," according to her.
In Germany, e-cigarettes can be bought everywhere by anyone. "Children buy these and they initiate a smoking habit," she argued.
But Farsalinos insisted that "there is not a single case of a never-smoker who used e-cigarettes and then became a smoker of tobacco cigarettes".
The German delegate still disagreed with a ban on e-cigarettes.
If they are proved to help smokers quit, then "e-cigarettes could easily be sold in pharmacies where you have a controlled product" and ensure they are only sold to adults.
But she added: "We need regulation for this product."
Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

health experts defend ecigarettes health experts defend ecigarettes

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

health experts defend ecigarettes health experts defend ecigarettes

 



GMT 23:04 2017 Monday ,04 December

Saudi Arabia recalls ambassador to Germany

GMT 02:47 2014 Monday ,17 November

Qatar Library to take part in Conference

GMT 18:17 2018 Friday ,07 September

US Defence Secretary arrives in Kabul

GMT 03:28 2018 Sunday ,21 January

Emirates throws Airbus A380 a lifeline

GMT 15:20 2017 Wednesday ,20 December

Oman Arab Bank launches advanced automation system

GMT 04:56 2017 Thursday ,22 June

ASEAN journalists conclude silk road media journey

GMT 08:08 2015 Thursday ,05 November

UAE media has matured, delivered remarkable successes

GMT 22:37 2016 Thursday ,17 November

Japan aims to increase food exports to GCC

GMT 08:40 2013 Saturday ,02 February

Saladin

GMT 00:12 2016 Sunday ,01 May

December 21 - January 18

GMT 05:35 2017 Wednesday ,25 October

Rio policeman who killed Spanish tourist charged
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday