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A group of 53 scientists wrote to the World Health Organisation (WHO) two days before World No Tobacco Day on May the 31st. They asked the WHO not to make e-cigarettes a tobacco product. E-cigarettes help people quit smoking. They do not have any tobacco inside them. Instead, they contain nicotine, which makes people feel like they are smoking. Doctors say this is better for people's health than real cigarettes. The WHO says e-cigarettes are like real cigarettes. It says countries can tax them, ban advertising, introduce health warnings, and ban them in public.

The scientists said e-cigarettes help to reduce disease and deaths from smoking. They are a "low-risk product" that are "part of the solution" to stop smoking, not part of the problem. They wrote: "These products could be among the most significant health innovations of the 21st century, perhaps saving hundreds of millions of lives." They told the WHO not to control them. Researchers from the University of Chicago said e-cigarettes could encourage young people to smoke and mean that fewer people quit smoking.