Electronic cigarette users are set to be banished to thepavement alongside their tobacco-smoking cousins ? and facesimilar hefty prices ? if the World Health Organization pushesahead with plans to regulate e-cigarettes in the same way astobacco.

　　如果世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)推进其以对待烟草的方式来管理电子烟的计划，那么电子烟的使用者将会和他们抽烟草的同胞一样被赶到户外抽烟，并面临和烟草类似的高价。

　　Documents seen by the Financial Times revealed that parts of the WHO are keen to classify thebattery-powered devices as tobacco under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, aWHO treaty that obliges governments to cut smoking rates.

　　根据英国《金融时报》看到的文件，世卫组织的部分机构很希望将电池供电的电子烟归入《世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约》(Framework Convention on Tobacco Control，简称FCTC)下的烟草类别。该条约规定，政府有削减吸烟率的义务。

　　Concerns range from unease over the level of nicotine in e-cigarettes to fears that usage“renormalizes” tobacco and undermines anti-smoking laws.

　　该组织的担忧既包括对电子烟中尼古丁的水平感到不安，也包括害怕使用电子烟会使烟草消费“再度正常化”、破坏禁烟法令。

　　E-cigarettes “could result in a new wave of the tobacco epidemic”, said Dr Haik Nikogosian, whooversees the FCTC secretariat, in a meeting that set the agenda for the November gathering inMoscow, according to minutes seen by the FT.

　　今年11月，FCTC缔约国将于莫斯科开会。在为此次大会设定议程的一次会议中，FCTC秘书处秘书长艾克•尼科戈相博士(Dr Haik Nikogosian)表示，电子烟“可能导致新一波烟草流行病”。英国《金融时报》看到了这次会议的记录。

　　Attendees, who included representatives from the WHO’s six global regions, said e-cigarettes“would be considered as tobacco products as per the WHO FCTC” if they contained nicotine madefrom tobacco leaves, according to the minutes.

　　根据这份会议记录，参会者(包括世卫组织在全球六个区域的代表)表示，如果电子烟包含从烟草叶中提取的尼古丁成分，就“将被FCTC认定为烟草产品”。

　　This definition would cover the vast majority of e-cigarette companies, the bulk of whichmanufacture liquid nicotine ? which is heated, then inhaled as vapor ? from tobacco leaves.

　　这一定义将适用于绝大部分电子烟公司，它们生产的电子烟含有从烟叶中制取的液体尼古丁，经过加热后，会以蒸汽形式被吸烟者吸入体内。

　　The move would see e-cigarettes face the same advertising bans, public smoking limits and heftyexcise duties that apply to normal cigarettes, potentially stymieing their rapid growth.

　　此举将让电子烟面临同样的广告禁令、公共禁烟限制、以及与普通香烟一样的高昂消费税，潜在可能阻碍电子烟的快速增长。

　　Global sales of e-cigarettes have exploded from $20m in 2008 to $3bn last year, according toCanaccord Genuity. The growth has split health campaigners, who see them as either a savior forsmokers or another front in the “tobacco epidemic”.

　　Canaccord Genuity数据显示，全球电子烟销售额近年来出现爆炸式增长，从2008年的2000万美元增至去年的30亿美元。这种增长让健康倡导者出现分化，一派认为电子烟拯救了吸烟者，另一派则认为电子烟开启了“烟草流行病”的又一条新战线。

　　Multinational tobacco groups, all of which have launched or are developing e-cigarettes, have beenattracted to the products.

　　跨国烟草公司近年被电子烟产品吸引，它们都已推出、或正在研发电子烟。

　　Sanjiv Desai, general counsel at VMR Products, which makes V2 brand e-cigarettes, said: “We can’tdiscount the public perception and the weight that any decision that they make would have onelectronic cigarettes.”

　　V2牌电子烟制造商韦艾慕尔(VMR Products)总法律顾问桑吉夫•德赛(Sanjiv Desai)表示：“我们不能低估公众看法和他们作出的任何决定对电子烟将会造成的影响。”

　　The FCTC has been ratified by all but a few countries in the world ? with the US the only majorexception. The US Food and Drug Administration has said it plans to regulate e-cigarettes astobacco products.

　　全世界大多数国家都已批准FCTC，大国中只有美国仍未批准该公约。美国食品药品监督管理局(FDA)表示，它计划将电子烟当作烟草产品监管。

　　The WHO said: “The WHO position is not yet finalized.”

　　世界卫生组织表示：“WHO的立场仍未最后确定。”(FT)