Former WHO Director Endorses Electronic Cigarettes

Tikki Pangestu, former Director of Policy Research and Collaboration at the World Health Organization, made a positive statement in an online discussion titled "Reducing the Harms of Smoking: Is it Possible to Reduce Tobacco Harms?" regarding the potential of e-cigarettes to help improve public health.

Tikki Pang

Professor Tikki Pang is currently a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. Before becoming the Director of the World Health Organization, he was a Professor at the Lee School of Public Policy, where he taught Biomedical Sciences at the Graduate Institute of the University of Malaya.

Professor Pang has written over 250 scientific publications and 12 books on epidemiology, pathogenesis, laboratory diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases, biosafety, and dual-use research over his 30-year academic career. He is a nationally and internationally renowned public health specialist.

According to Tikki Pang, his home country still has roughly 70 million smokers, a habit that costs the nation monetarily and places a significant social burden on individuals.

"From a public health and socioeconomic standpoint, this issue requires a plan, an intervention, and a policy that can reduce the smoking rate in Indonesia," he stated.

"Interventions based on the use of harm reduction principles are more effective than items such as nicotine replacement therapy for persons wishing to quit smoking. This is a crucial technique for addressing this extremely complex issue. Innovations and technological improvements are producing goods with tremendous promise."

Professor Peng asked Indonesian legislators to accept e-cigarettes, snuff bags, and heated tobacco products, citing data from an independent study conducted in the United Kingdom.

The path to a healthier nation requires the government to ensure that adult smokers have easy access to less dangerous new nicotine products and that the information provided is accurate and true.

British cancer expert Peter Harper agrees. He remarked, "You smoke to satisfy your nicotine cravings, but you ultimately die from it. Stopping smoking immediately is a solution. However, the existing approach is ineffective. Innovative solutions provide a solution for those with trouble quitting while minimizing the negative effects on overall health."