This United Nations health body thinks we need much more safety testing before we start using them.

Closer to home, the authoritative British Medical Association is also unwilling to back the electronic smoking alternative until more is known about long term effects.

Even the NHS website is peppered with warnings that we still don&#39 t have proof they can help you quit smoking.

Despite these concerns, so many individuals have told me their stories of quitting the killer weed thanks to E cigarettes.

One of the most significant was Ron, who I had the great pleasure of meeting in South Shields.

Ron said he had ended his tobacco addiction thanks to E cigarettes. Credit ITV Tonight

He&#39 s been diagnosed with terminal cancer after years of smoking. Thanks to e cigs, he told me, he has managed to end the tobacco addiction and he wants to spread the word to prevent others suffering.

I suspect that the real scandal here is that seven years after E cigarettes arrived in the UK, our officials and regulators have still failed to catch up.

There has not been the clinical testing that some medical authorities deem necessary.

The end result is that the public is left not knowing who to believe How can consumers make an informed choice without the essential information?

While arguments rage over the future of E cigarettes, there is one thing we already know that every year around 100,000 are dying from tobacco smoking.

That is surely reason enough for officials to make every effort possible to clear up the confusion and doubts.

Chris Choi examines the new findings and speaks to the retailers behind e cigarettes

Walgreen to ‘ to evaluate’ selling cigarettes – chicago tribune

E-cigarettes not regulated as medicines says the european parliament – lexology

Retail pharmacies like CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreen are seeking to play a larger role in the U.S. health system by becoming more comprehensive health care providers with in store clinics, vaccination administration and other services.

They re collectively trying to capture a surge of newly insured Americans who are gaining coverage through the health care overhaul law, which is expected to expand insurance to 11 million to 13 million by the end of 2014.

The CVS initiative, the first major pharmacy to undertake such a ban, puts the bullseye on the back of Walgreen, the nation s largest pharmacy chain that has faced withering attacks from health and advocacy groups for years surrounding its policy of selling tobacco products.

Despite its more recent transformation into a more health care focused company, Walgreen has remained steadfast in its tobacco policy, arguing last year that it must continue to sell those products to stay competitive with other drug store chains, convenience stores and grocery stores.

Michael Polzin, a Walgreen spokesman, said Wednesday the company has been evaluating its tobacco line for “some time,” and said it “will continue to evaluate the choice of products our customers want, while also helping to educate them and providing smoking cessation products and alternatives that help reduce the demand for tobacco products.”

Walgreen on Wednesday also announced a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare to launch a free, Internet based smoking cessation program called Sponsorship to Quit.

The program will provide smokers with customized tools to track their progress in quitting smoking.

While Walgreen does not break out tobacco sales, the company last year cited the introduction of cigarette sales in dollar stores as a key contributor to a decline in its store traffic for its third quarter.

The $2 billion in annual sales CVS said it is giving up accounted for about 1.6 percent of the company s total revenue in 2012, the last year for which full year statistics are available.

The move drew praise from President Barack Obama, a former smoker, who said CVS “sets a powerful example that will have a profoundly positive impact on the health of our country.”

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CVS data by YCharts