Even if in recent months the attention of the World Health Organization (WHO) has obviously been directed elsewhere, the question relating to electronic cigarettes, their effects on health compared to traditional cigarettes and the possible revolution in the tobacco market.
Today, in the world more than 1 billion people smoke, and in a historical phase in which a virus is circulating that attacks above all the lungs and the respiratory system, this is not good news. This is why for years the scientific community has been trying to accredit the validity of e-cigarettes and hybrid products as an absolutely viable alternative: a market that can save big companies, the supply chain, leading consumers to new habits which, if not optimal, are still be much less harmful.
This was still talked about on the occasion of the recent one World No Tobacco Day 2020, where a group of independent experts has strongly criticized the WHO for its retrograde approach to innovation and new technologies, such as e-cig or vape products. Experts claimed to be "exasperated" by the dogmatic hostility of the WHO towards new technologies and fear that the United Nations health agency will squander the opportunity to avoid millions of premature deaths caused by smoking.
“We know beyond a reasonable doubt – said for example the professor David Abrams, of the University of New York – that the vape and the other products based on nicotine without combustion they are much less risky than smoking and that those who change completely see rapid improvements in their health. Yet WHO continues to promote the outright ban or extreme regulation of these products. How can it make sense to ban a much safer product when cigarettes are available everywhere?”
Scientists fear in particular that this resistance will eventually miss important international goals to reduce cancer, heart and lung disease. Indeed, the Sustainable Development Goals also require a one-third reduction in mortality rates for noncommunicable diseases. “WHO's commitment against smoking is losing effectiveness”, the experts who intervened sounded the alarm in unison.
“The Organization – is the reading by David Sweanor, of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, University of Ottawa. he's treating the vape products like they're part of a Big Tobacco ruse. But he is 100% wrong. Effectively, new products are disrupting the lucrative cigarette trade of the tobacco industry and lowering cigarette sales. It's exactly what we need from innovation, but the WHO and its private donors have lined up to oppose it, with calls for a ban. Even if they don't seem to realize it, they are siding with Big Tobacco's cigarette interests, erecting barriers to entry for new technologies and protecting the existing cigarette oligopoly.
Meanwhile, in Italy the market for alternative cigarettes continues to grow, and it was the same during the lockdown. In that period, according to data from the Higher Institute of Health, it is the number of traditional cigarette smokers has decreased, a sign that the Covid-19 emergency has offered Italians the opportunity to pay more attention to their lifestyle. It is the first time that in Italy, after years of stable prevalence, there has been a downward trend in the number of smokers.
A decline, that of traditional cigarette lovers, which coincides with the increase in e-cig users and heated tobacco products, which recorded an increase of 1% and 0,3% respectively, confirming themselves as an alternative for many smokers who abandon the "blondes".
