Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 15th Dec. World health agency on Thursday warned the international community that E-cigarettes pose serious health risks, are being “aggressively marketed” to young people and in large parts of the world there are no rules in place to protect children from their harmful effects.
WHO said that 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have not implemented any e-cigarette regulations.
Head of the agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries to ramp up prevention measures, saying that “kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine”.
The agency research has found that children aged 13 to 15 worldwide are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults and in the United Kingdom the number of young users has tripled in the past three years.
WHO said that the products generate carcinogenic substances, increase the risk of heart and lung disorders and can affect brain development.
It warned that the tobacco industry “funds and promotes false evidence” to argue that e-cigarettes reduce harm, while at the same time “heavily promoting these products to children and non-smokers and continuing to sell billions of cigarettes”.
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