This story and others can be found on the new Innokin Weekly news blog HERE!
Great work Benedict Jones!
UKVIA backs calls to defund World Health Organization over hostile attacks on vaping
The World Health Organisation (WHO), which advises governments on health policy, has long been opposed to the growing adoption of vaping by smokers, including some extreme stances, such as calling on governments to ban open vaping devices.
Leaked documents reported on by the Daily Express suggest that WHO intends to use the COP9 summit, taking place this summer, as a platform to tell leading global health figures that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as smoking.
This was met with immediate backlash from UK All-Party Parliamentary Group Chair Mark Pawsey MP, who questions why the UK government plans to continue funding WHO, with a projected sum of £340 million over the next four years.
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is now joining calls for the UK to stop funding WHO, if it continues to issue advice that goes against the UK’s progressive stance on tobacco harm reduction:
“The UKVIA notes that this action flies in the face of the scientific reality of vaping in the UK, which has seen millions of people quit smoking in recent years. Research by British scientists has consistently shown vaping to be the most popular and successful aide to quitting smoking.
The Cochrane Review into e-cigarettes, which is widely recognised as the gold standard in terms of research in this area, highlights that existing studies show that vaping is nearly 50% more effective in helping smokers quit cigarettes than other methods of smoking cessation. The review found that as many as 11% of smokers using a nicotine e‐cigarette to stop smoking might successfully stop, compared to only 6% of smokers using nicotine‐replacement therapy or nicotine‐free e‐cigarettes, or 4% of people having no support or behavioural support only.”
John Dune, Director General of UKVIA said:
“The stance of the World Health Organization is extremely concerning. The vaping industry here in the UK, together with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping, is right to call out these baseless attacks on the sector. Vaping is a great British success story, enabling millions of people to switch from smoking.”
He added: “The APPG is also right to call for the UK Government to reconsider the level of its funding to the World Health Organization in light of these reports. Thankfully now that the UK has left the EU it is no longer bound by the ridiculous and quite frankly dangerous WHO messaging urging the bloc to treat vaping in the same way as smoking.”
Store
