By Anna Edney, Bloomberg

E-cigarettes require strict regulation at a time when there’s been little research into potential harm, more than 100 scientists told the World Health Organization in a letter.

The group said the health organization should support marketing regulation, safety and efficacy data requirements and protection for bystanders from second-hand vapor. A different group of researchers wrote WHO last month urging the group to avoid suppressing sales since the devices may help smokers quit.

The letter dated June 15, from 129 academics and anti-tobacco advocates, disputed the potential of e-cigarettes as a cessation device. The WHO is preparing a paper it will submit to its tobacco control convention made up of 178 countries.

“The absence of detailed evidence on adverse health effects is not evidence that no effect exists,” according to the letter. “Rather, insufficient time has elapsed to determine what effects exist and their magnitude on a population level.”

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