The World Health Organisation (WHO) is accusing the tobacco industry of spreading misinformation and deliberately recruiting children when marketing e-cigarettes.

The industry “funds and promotes false evidence to argue that these products reduce harm,’’ the UN agency said in Geneva on Thursday. It called for stricter regulations for such products.

“Kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked on nicotine,’’ WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.

The WHO wants countries to make e-cigarettes less attractive by banning flavours, reducing nicotine content, and levying product taxes.

Tobacco companies advertise e-cigarettes as nicotine products that can reduce health risks compared to conventional cigarettes.

The WHO points out that the use of electric nicotine vaporisers also produces toxic substances that can cause cancer and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

In addition, unborn children could be harmed in the womb, and the mental development of underage consumers could be impaired, it said.

The organisation said children ages 13 to 15 are using e-cigarettes at a higher rate than adults in all WHO regions.

The group noted that in Canada, the rates of e-cigarette use among teens ages 16 to 19 doubled between 2017 to 2022.

England’s young users have tripled in the past three years.

According to the WHO, e-cigarettes are not a suitable alternative for reducing the consumption of tobacco but rather increase the likelihood of users turning to conventional cigarettes due to their addictive effects.

(dpa/NAN)