WHO hit with community fact check after calling for flavoured vape bans
World Health Organization director-general was hit with a reader-added fact check after posting a World No Tobacco Day video calling for a ban on flavoured vaping products.
The World Health Organization was hit with a reader-added fact check after its director-general promoted a World No Tobacco Day video calling on governments to ban flavoured vaping products, restrict advertising and regulate packaging.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted that “at least 40 million children aged 13 to 15 are already using tobacco products” and that 15 million children are using e-cigarettes, claiming tobacco and nicotine companies “continue to drive addiction, particularly for young people.” The WHO video said governments “must act decisively” by “banning flavours, restricting advertising and promotion, and regulating product design and packaging.”
The post was hit with a reader-context fact check. However, using the WHO’s own figures, critics argued that vaping and youth nicotine use represent a small fraction of the overall market.
