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The World Health Organization (WHO) has denied that it has recommended Ruyan, a Chinese product claimed to be effective in helping people quit smoking.

 

Ruyan, meaning cigarette-like in Chinese, is made up of a cigarette pipe and "smoking balls," which act as substitutes for cigarettes.

 

It was promoted as the WHO-recommended way to stop smoking, and raked in more than one billion yuan (US$125 million) in domestic sales last year.

 

An official with the WHO's Beijing office told the People's Daily that the therapy behind the product -- nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) -- was possible, but not the best way to quit smoking.

 

"The WHO never recommends any specific product for the public, nor will it recommend Ruyan," he was quoted as saying.

 

Ruyan came under fire after the Beijing Times reported that each ball contains 18 milligrams of nicotine, far higher than the average 1.2 milligram in a cigarette.

 

Its producer argued that nicotine is only addictive, but not pathogenic, while the carbon monoxide and tar produced by cigarettes caused diseases.

 

However, his claim has been refuted by Liu Yunqing, a professor at the school of basic medical sciences of Zhengzhou University in central China's Henan Province.

 

"Although nicotine is not carcinogenic, it can quicken the growth of cancer," Liu told Chengdu Business newspaper. "It can trigger heart disease, arteriosclerosis and strokes, and a milligram of nicotine can kill a white rat."

 

Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stressed that NRT was not widely used and it should be strictly supervised.

 

"The substitutes for cigarettes and other tobacco products are only allowed to have a very low and restricted nicotine content," Yang said.

 

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has already taken samples of Ruyan from the market for safety tests and the results will be released by the end of this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006)