MOSCOW, October 17 (RIA Novosti) – Electronic cigarettes should be banned until a reliable research proves them safe, a representative for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease said Friday.
“E-cigarettes contain nicotine, that’s for sure, and it causes addiction. Of course, more research is needed to establish the degree of danger, but until this research is done, the e-cigarettes should be banned,” Tara Singh Bam, the Union's tobacco control technical adviser to Indonesia, said on the sidelines of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) conference in Moscow.
“I think there is a consensus here, at the convention, there is no hot debate on the topic, because we all know that nicotine is harmful,” Tara Singh Bam added.
From October 13 to October 18 parties from the WHO FCTC are holding a summit in Moscow. The meeting is focused on the regulation of electronic cigarettes. WHO released a report in August stating that electronic cigarettes may be harmful and could eventually lead to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking. The report triggered fierce debate, with some experts claiming electronic cigarettes should only be assessed in relation to the known dangers of cigarettes.
