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WHO: End The Lies

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates has called upon the World Health Organization to stop lying about vaping and other tobacco harm reduction products

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The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has called upon the World Health Organization (WHO) to stop hawking lies about the risks of contracting Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes.

In a 103-page white paper, CAPHRA said the vaping/COVID link is the latest dangerous lie being spread by the WHO as part of its anti-smoking agenda. The group noted that the WHO, in its quest to rid the world of smoking, has once again sought to deliberately prevent millions of adult cigarette smokers from getting access to safer vaping products.

CAPHRA Executive Coordinator and New Zealand vaping advocate Nancy Loucas said: “For years, the WHO has created a steady stream of anti-vaping claims, which has had dire consequences for adult smokers seeking to quit. It has also led to many governments passing legislation that bans vaping and all related products.

“By going this route, the WHO has chosen to support deadly cigarette consumption over a healthier alternative and in the process has forced vaping into the waiting hands of the black market—and they do this with the full knowledge of the consequences of their actions. The lack of legislation means that these unregulated products end up in the hands of minors, courtesy of the WHO.”

CAPHRA says that a review of medical research looking at any relationship between vaping and displaying COVID-19 symptoms has failed to find a link. The organisation also points out that studies have been making “three key observations that contradict WHO’s allegations, including a noticeably low percentage of smokers among COVID-19 patients; a theory that nicotine may in fact be a potential deterrent to COVID-19; and that the link between COVID-19 and vaping is currently considered inconclusive at best, with researchers calling for more studies to clarify the situation.”

Furthermore, they say the WHO’s findings support the position that there is no established link between nicotine and COVID.

Despite a lack of evidence, CPHRA say the WHO continue to link vaping with COVID-19 in briefings and the materials it disseminates.

CPHRA added: “The effects are devastating, allowing black marketers to sell to minors while robbing the government of revenues. If the World Health Organisation and governments globally can be so reliant on the science around COVID-19, why won’t they take the same approach to the smoking pandemic that kills someone every 10 seconds? Half of all smokers who cannot stop, will die from smoking related illnesses. That is over 8 million deaths per year.

“This begs the question: If governments trust the science around the COVID pandemic, why are they not trusting the science on tobacco harm reduction to mitigate the long-standing smoking pandemic?”

Related:

  • Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates – [link]
  • Tobacco: E-cigarettes”, World Health Organization – [link]
  • CAPHRA’s annotated 103-page White Paper – [link]

Photo Credit:

Dave Cross avatar

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.

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