E-cigarette news in China: A study by University College London (UCL) has concluded that warnings about the dangers of e-cigarettes are "alarmist" and that increasing the use of e-cigarettes could save lives.
The school's research suggests that for every million smokers who switch to e-cigarettes, at least 6,000 lives could be saved each year.
The king's college and Queen Mary University study said some of the assumptions in previous WHO reports were "misleading".
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a report calling for a ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public places because it believes e-cigarettes increase the concentration of some related toxins and nicotine in the air. The group's report also argues that e-cigarettes could be a gateway for non-smokers to become smokers.
The ucL team said that, based on surveys of smokers, the number of non-smokers who use e-cigarettes is just 1% of the population. While e-cigarette use does produce some toxins, the concentrations are so low that the levels of nicotine and carcinogens are not comparable to those of traditional cigarettes, the researchers said.
Who has not yet responded to the reports. Other experts say they worry that e-cigarettes will arouse the curiosity of former nonsmokers and lead young people to start smoking.
However, there are not enough information and data about e-cigarettes, and further data collection is needed to judge the advantages and disadvantages of e-cigarettes.
The most important thing now, experts say, is how to manage e-cigarettes, but "don't ban phones and computers just because their batteries can overheat and explode."