53 водещи учени от областта на науката, медицината и здравеопазването от 15 страни в света изпратиха писмо на Световната здравна организация(СЗО) и по специално на  д-р Маргарет Чан - генерален директор на СЗО (Световната здравна организация за намаляване на вредите от тютюнопушенето Те призовават организацията да преосмисли намерението си да настоява електронните цигари да се регулират по същия начин, както традиционните. 

В писмото се твърди, че по този начин ще се пропусне възможността за значително намаляване на нивата на тютюнопушене в световен мащаб, а следователно и на заболяванията и смъртността, свързани с тютюнопушенето.

Писмото още е изпратено на:

Hail Nikogisian - ръководител на Секретариата на Рамковата конвенция за контрол на тютюна.
Олег Chestnov - помощник-генерален директор за незаразни болести и психично здраве
СЗО Регионални Офиси
Страните по РККТ - над 178 са страните, които обхващат 90% от населението на света - най-забележителни изключения са Съединените щати и Швейцария.

Писмото е относно крайната цел на общественото здраве и на СЗО - намаляване на потенциално масивните жертви на болестта и предотвратимата преждевременната смърт чрез използването на много ниско рискови алтернативи за пушене и как международния договор ( Рамковата конвенция за контрол на тютюна ), договорена през 2003 г. може да се прилага за тези продукти за намаляване на вредите. Тя се отнася до възможните решения, които биха могли да бъдат направени в Шестата конференция на страните "COP-6" на РККТ, която ще се проведе в Москва 13-18 август тази година.

Авторите на писмото се противопоставят на документ, изтекъл след среща, свързана с подготовка на текстове за предстоящата Шеста Конференция на страните по Рамковата конвенция за контрол на тютюна (РККТ) през есента в Москва. В изтеклия документ се говори за това, че СЗО счита електронните цигари за „заплаха" за общественото здраве и уеднаквяването на регулацията им с тази за цигарите лесно ще ги отстрани от пазара като алтернатива на традиционните тютюневи изделия.

Притесненията на учените са, че СЗО недоглежда или преднамерено пренебрегва възможността редица алтернативни на цигарите продукти да доведат до намаляване на вредата от употребата на тютюн. За 1,3 милиарда пушачи в света, вредата за здравето им ще бъде значително намалена, като употребата на традиционните цигари може да бъде заменена с ползването на продукти с никотин във форма, която е ниско-рискова и не е свързана с горенето на тютюн. От години се знае, че хората пушат заради никотина в тютюна, но не умират от приема на никотин, а от катранените частици и токсични газове, които се отделят в дима при горене на тютюна.

Вече съществуват бързо развиващи се никотин-съдържащи продукти, които могат ефективно да заместят цигарите, но с много по-малък риск за здравето. Такива продукти са именно електронните цигари, ниско-нитрозаминови бездимни тютюневи изделия и други ниско рискови тютюневи изделия, при които тютюнът не изгаря, поради което не се отделят множество вредни вещества, както при традиционното тютюнопушене. Това са все нововъзникващи продукти, които могат да станат реални алтернативи на тютюнопушенето в бъдеще.

Клайв Бейтс, един от авторите на писмото, здравен консултант във Великобритания, e публикувал писмото на своя сайт (www.clivebates.com), където подчертава огромния потенциал на тези нововъзникващи продукти за намаляването на вредата от употребата на тютюн.

Списък на учените подписали писмото:

Professor David Abrams
Professor of Health Behavior and Society.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Maryland. USA.
Professor of Oncology (adjunct). Georgetown University Medical Center,
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Washington DC.
United States of America

Professor Tony Axéll
Emeritus Professor Geriatric Dentistry
Consultant in Oral Medicine
Sweden

Professor Pierre Bartsch
Respiratory physician,
Faculty of Medicine
University of Liège
Belgium

Professor Linda Bauld
Professor of Health Policy
Director of the Institute for Social Marketing
Deputy Director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
University of Stirling
United Kingdom

Professor Ron Borland
Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria
Professorial Fellow School of Population Health and Department of Information Systems
University of Melbourne,
Australia

Professor John Britton
Professor of Epidemiology;
Director, UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies,
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom

Associate Professor Chris Bullen
Director, National Institute for Health Innovation
School of Population Health,
University of Auckland,
New Zealand

Professor Emeritus André Castonguay
Faculty of Pharmacy
Université Laval,
Quebec,

Dr Lynne Dawkins
Senior Lecturer in Psychology,
Co-ordinator: Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group
School of Psychology,
University of East London,
United Kingdom

Professor Ernest Drucker
Professor Emeritus
Department of Family and Social Medicine,
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
United States of America

Professor Jean François Etter
Associate Professor
Institut de santé globale,
Faculté de médecine,
Université de Genève,
Switzerland

Dr Karl Fagerström
President, Fagerström Consulting AB,
Vaxholm,
Sweden

Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos
Researcher, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece
Researcher, University Hospital Gathuisberg, Leuven,
Belgium

Professor Antoine Flahault
Directeur de l’Institut de Santé Globale
Faculté de Médecine, Université de Genève, Suisse/ Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Professor of Public Health at the Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité,
France

Dr Coral Gartner
Senior Research Fellow
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research
The University of Queensland,
Australia

Dr Guillermo González
Psychiatrist
Comisión de Rehabilitación en Enfermedad Mental Grave
Clínica San Miguel
Madrid,
Spain

Dr Nigel Gray
Member of Special Advisory Committee on Tobacco Regulation of the World Health Organization
Honorary Senior Associate
Cancer Council Victoria
Australia

Professor Peter Hajek
Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director, Health and Lifestyle Research Unit
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Queen Mary University of London,
United Kingdom

Professor Wayne Hall
Director and Inaugural Chair, Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research
University of Queensland
Australia

Professor John Hughes
Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Family Practice
University of Vermont
United States of America

Professor Martin Jarvis
Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health
University College London,
United Kingdom

Professor Didier Jayle
Professeur d’addictologie
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
Paris,
France

Dr Martin Juneau
Directeur, Direction de la Prévention
Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal
Professeur Titulaire de Clinique
Faculté de Médecine,
Université de Montréal,
Canada

Dr Michel Kazatchkine
Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
Senior fellow, Global Health Program, Graduate institute, Geneva,
Switzerland

Professor Demetrios Kouretas
School of Health Sciences and Vice Rector
University of Thessaly,
Greece

Professor Lynn Kozlowski
Dean, School of Public Health and Health Professions,
Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior,
University at Buffalo,
State University of New York,
United States of America

Professor Eva Králíková
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology
Centre for Tobacco-Dependence
First Faculty of Medicine
Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague,
Czech Republic

Professor Michael Kunze
Head of the Institute for Social Medicine
Medical University of Vienna,
Austria

Dr Murray Laugesen
Director
Health New Zealand, Lyttelton,
Christchurch,
New Zealand

Dr Jacques Le Houezec
Consultant in Public Health, Tobacco dependence, Rennes,
France
Honorary Lecturer, UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies,
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom

Dr Kgosi Letlape
President of the Africa Medical Association
Former President of the World Medical Association
Former Chairman of Council of the South African Medical Association
South Africa

Dr Karl Erik Lund
Research director
Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research,
Oslo,
Norway

Dr Gérard Mathern
Président de l’Institut Rhône-Alpes de Tabacologie
Saint-Chamond,
France

Professor Richard Mattick
NHMRC Principal Research Fellow
Immediate Past Director NDARC (2001-2009)
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC)
Faculty of Medicine
The University of New South Wales,
Australia

Professor Ann McNeill
Professor of Tobacco Addiction
Deputy Director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
National Addiction Centre
Institute of Psychiatry
King’s College London,
United Kingdom

Dr Hayden McRobbie
Reader in Public Health Interventions,
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,
Queen Mary University of London,
United Kingdom

Dr Anders Milton
Former President of the Swedish Red Cross
Former President and Secretary of the Swedish Medical Association
Former Chairman of the World Medical Association
Owner & Principal Milton Consulting,
Sweden

Professor Marcus Munafò
Professor of Biological Psychology
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
School of Experimental Psychology
University of Bristol,
United Kingdom

Professor David Nutt
Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (UK)
Edmund J Safra Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology
Head of the Department of Neuropsychopharmacology and Molecular Imaging
Imperial College London,
United Kingdom

Dr Gaston Ostiguy
Professeur agrégé
Directeur de la Clinique de cessation tabagique
Centre universitaire de santé McGill (CUSM)
Institut thoracique de Montréal,
Canada

Professor Riccardo Polosa
Director of the Institute for Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology,
University of Catania, Italy.

Dr Lars Ramström
Director
Institute for Tobacco Studies
Täby,
Sweden

Dr Martin Raw
Special Lecturer
UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies
Division of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom

Professor Andrzej Sobczak
Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry,
Faculty of Pharmacy and Laboratory Medicine,
Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
Sosnowiec,
Poland

Professor Gerry Stimson
Emeritus Professor, Imperial College London;
Visiting Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
United Kingdom

Professor Tim Stockwell
Director, Centre for Addictions Research of BC
Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada

Professor David Sweanor
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Special Lecturer, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health,
University of Nottingham,
United Kingdom

Professor Umberto Tirelli
Director Department of Medical Oncology
National Cancer Institute of Aviano
Italy

Professor Umberto Veronesi
Scientific Director
IEO Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
Former Minister of Health,
Italy

Professor Kenneth Warner
Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health
Professor, Health Management & Policy
School of Public Health
University of Michigan
United States of America

Professor Robert West
Professor of Health Psychology and Director of Tobacco Studies
Health Behaviour Research Centre,
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health,
University College London
United Kingdom

Professor Dan Xiao
Director of Department Epidemiology
WHO Collaborating Center for Tobacco or Health
Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine,
Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital,
China

Dr Derek Yach
Former Executive Director, Non-Communicable Diseases
Former Head of Tobacco Free Initiative,
World Health Organisation (1995-2004)
Senior Vice President Vitality Group plc
Director, Vitality Institute for Health Promotion
United States of America