What’s wrong with the WHO?
The World Health Organization is spreading misinformation about e-cigarettes, to the detriment of millions of people who could use them to quit smoking. The first of a two-part series.
The World Health Organization has 8,000 employees, a budget of close to $4bn dollars, considerable influence and ambitious goals. Expanding access to medical care. Managing global health emergencies. Addressing the root causes of disease.
Even combatting misinformation online.
To the latter, one is tempted to respond, “Physician, heal thyself.”
That’s because, when it comes to one of the most important public health questions of our time — how best to reduce the death and disease caused by smoking tobacco — the WHO is not merely failing to curb misinformation. It is misleading governments, health care workers and the public.
The WHO does so by taking a hard-line stance against e-cigarettes, which have helped millions of smokers to quit combustible cigarettes. On social media and on its own website, the WHO consistently exaggerates the risks and understates the benefits of e-cigarettes, as we’ll demonstrate in a moment.
