ＷＨＯ、「有害な」電子たばこに警鐘　規制強化呼び掛け

【ジュネーブＡＦＰ＝時事】世界保健機関（ＷＨＯ）は２７日、電子たばこや類似器が健康を害するとし、若者をニコチン中毒にしようとするたばこ業界の「犯罪的」戦略に対する規制をすべきだと警告した。（写真は資料写真）
　テドロス・アダノム・ゲブレイェスス事務局長は、「ニコチンは中毒性が強い。電子ニコチン送達システム（ＥＮＤＳ）は有害であり、規制を強化するべきだ」と述べた。
　ＷＨＯは２７日、新製品や開発中の製品に焦点を当てた「２０２１年世界のたばこの流行に関する報告」を公開。市民の健康を守るため、ＥＮＤＳに対する規制を厳格化すべきだと訴えた。
　テドロス氏は、「ＥＮＤＳを禁止していない国の政府は、その害から国民を守り、子どもや若者、その他影響を受けやすい層の使用を防ぐための適切な政策を採用すべきだ」と述べた。
　８回目となる報告書によると、メーカーは多数の魅力的なフレーバーと安心感を与えるフレーズで、若者をターゲットにすることが多い。現在、１万６０００種類のフレーバーがあるという。
　ＷＨＯの「たばこのない世界構想（ＴＦＩ）」の責任者、ビナヤク・プラサード医師は記者会見で、「有毒な製品」で子どもをターゲットにするのは「犯罪行為だ」と述べた。「もっとも犯罪的な行為であり、人権侵害だ」
　報告書によると、ＥＮＤＳの販売は北朝鮮、シンガポール、インド、イラン、イラク、エジプト、エチオピア、メキシコ、アルゼンチン、ブラジルなど３２か国で禁じられている。
　また、７９か国では、公共の場での使用禁止や、広告、宣伝活動、スポンサー契約の禁止、外箱に健康被害に関する警告の表示義務など、部分的な規制を少なくとも一つ導入している。
　一方、「残り８４か国では、いまだに規制や制限が一切ない」と指摘した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/07/29-13:39）

Electronic cigarettes and similar devices are dangerous to health and must be regulated to curb the tobacco industry's criminal tactics to get young people hooked on nicotine, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday.
Nicotine is highly addictive. Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) are harmful, and must be better regulated, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2021, which focused on new and emerging products, was published on Tuesday.
It said ENDS should be tightly regulated for maximum public health protection.
Where they are not banned, governments should adopt appropriate policies to protect their populations from the harms of ENDS, and to prevent their uptake by children, adolescents and other vulnerable groups, Tedros said.
The UN health agency's eighth tobacco report said ENDS manufacturers often target youths with thousands of tantalising flavours -- the document listed 16,000 -- and reassuring statements.
Doctor Vinayak Prasad, who heads the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, said targeting children with toxic and poisonous products is a criminal action.
It's the most criminal act. And it's a human rights violation, he told a press conference.
They run the risk of being addicted for the rest of their lives.
The report said there were still more than a billion smokers around the world.
Tobacco is responsible for the deaths of eight million people a year, including one million from second-hand smoke, it stressed.
Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, the WHO's global ambassador for non-communicable diseases, said: As cigarette sales have fallen, tobacco companies have been aggressively marketing new products -- like e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products -- and lobbied governments to limit their regulation.
Their goal is simple: to hook another generation on nicotine. We can't let that happen.
- Concern for youngsters -
The UN health agency is particularly concerned by people under 20 using e-cigarettes due to the harmful effects of nicotine on brain development.
However, regulating such products is not easy as the product range is very diverse and rapidly evolving, said Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO's health promotion department.
Distinguishing the nicotine-containing products from the non-nicotine, or even from some tobacco-containing products, can be almost impossible. This is just one way the industry subverts and undermines tobacco control measures, he said.
The WHO recommends that governments do whatever they can to prevent non-smokers from taking up e-cigarettes, for fear of renormalising smoking in society.
Krech said that while the evidence on e-cigarettes was not yet fully conclusive, there was enough evidence to conclude that they were harmful.
Let us not be naive in thinking that the tobacco industry would be part of the solution right now: they are still a big part of the problem, he added.
Prasad said the tobacco industry was misleading the public and trying to mislead the governments.
The report found that 32 countries have banned the sale of ENDS.
They include Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, North Korea and Singapore.
A further 79 have adopted at least one partial measure to either prohibit the use of such products in public places, prohibit their advertising, promotion and sponsorship or require the display of health warnings on packaging.
This still leaves 84 countries where they are not regulated or restricted in any way, the WHO said.
The Geneva-based organisation said efforts to regulate e-cigarettes should not distract from the fight against smoking.
Though the proportion of smokers has fallen in many countries, population growth means that the total number of smokers remains stubbornly high, the WHO said.