Urgent action needed to protect children and prevent the uptake of e-cigarettes
Controlling e-cigarettes is necessary to safeguard non-smokers and children alike and reduce public health risks. There is no evidence that e-cigarettes, as consumer items, are helpful in helping the general public stop using tobacco. Rather, concerning data on detrimental impacts on public health has surfaced.
Electronic cigarettes are now legally available for purchase and are heavily promoted to youth. Thirty-four nations forbid the sale of e-cigarettes, 88 do not set a minimum age for purchasing e-cigarettes, and 74 do not have any laws governing these dangerous goods.
The WHO Director-General claimed that young children are being lured in and ensnared to use e-cigarettes, which could lead to nicotine addiction.I implore nations to enact stringent measures to deter uptake in order to safeguard their inhabitants, particularly their youth and children.
Nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are extremely addicting and unhealthy. Although the long-term health implications are not entirely understood, it is known that they produce hazardous compounds, some of which have been linked to cancer and others of which raise the risk of lung and heart problems. For young people, using e-cigarettes can potentially have an impact on brain development and learning difficulties. Pregnant women who expose their foetuses to e-cigarettes run the risk of their foetus developing negatively. Bystander exposure to e-cigarette fumes is also dangerous.
With at least 16 000 varieties, e-cigarettes target children through social media and influencers. Younger consumers will find certain of these products appealing since they have slick designs and feature cartoon characters. The WHO Director for Health Promotion has noted that there is a startling rise in the use of e-cigarettes among children and young people, with rates surpassing adult use in many countries.
In all WHO regions, the rate of e-cigarette use among children aged 13 to 15 is higher than that of adults. Between 2017 and 2022, the rate of e-cigarette usage among 16 to 19-year-olds in Canada doubled, and in the last three years, the number of teenage users in England (the United Kingdom) has tripled.
Positive attitudes towards e-cigarettes and an increased intention to use these products can be linked to even a brief exposure to e-cigarette information on social media. Research continuously demonstrates that youth e-cigarette users are nearly three times more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future.
In view of national circumstances, immediate action is required to stop the adoption of e-cigarettes and combat nicotine addiction in addition to a comprehensive tobacco control strategy.
When a country forbids the sale of e-cigarettes, it should ensure that the ban is strictly enforced, strengthened, and that monitoring and surveillance are maintained to support public health interventions. Similarly, when a country allows the sale, importation, distribution, and manufacture of e-cigarettes as consumer goods, it should ensure that strict regulations are in place to lessen the allure of these products and the harm they cause to the public. These regulations should include a ban on all flavours, restrictions on the amount and quality of nicotine, and a tax on the product.
Along with other tobacco control initiatives, cessation programmes should be supported by the best available evidence of their efficacy and be the subject of ongoing evaluation and monitoring. It is not advised that governments allow the sale of e-cigarettes as consumer goods in an effort to promote quitting, based on the available data.
Any government that uses e-cigarettes as part of a smoking cessation programme should regulate the items as medicines and manage the circumstances in which they are available to guarantee suitable clinical conditions (including obtaining marketing authorization as medicines). Even in such a regulated form, the choice to pursue a smoking cessation goal should only be taken after taking into account the national context, the risk of uptake, and the failure of other tried-and-true quitting methods.
By profiting from the destruction of health, the tobacco industry is lobbying governments to oppose health policies by utilising these more recent goods to acquire a seat at the policy-making table. In order to claim that these products lessen harm, the tobacco industry finances and disseminates false information, all the while aggressively marketing these products to minors and non-smokers and continuing to sell billions of cigarettes.
Given the mounting evidence of the negative health effects of e-cigarette use among children and adolescents, strong, decisive action is required to stop the spread of these devices.
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