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

Cvs halts sale of cigarettes, tobacco at its stores

Police follow cigarettes, footprints to suspect

CVS is the first major pharmacy retailer to voluntarily stop selling tobacco products.

In a statement, Obama said he applauds the decision and said it “will have a profoundly positive impact on the health of our country.”

“As one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a powerful example, and today’s decision will help advance my Administration’s efforts to reduce tobacco related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come,” Obama said.

The industry has been under pressure to stop from state and local governments, with some communities instituting cigarette sales bans at pharmacies. They’ve also been pressured by the pharmacists themselves.

“We welcome CVS/Caremark’s commitment to health and wellness and its promise to remove tobacco products from their stores,” Steven T. Simenson, president of the American Pharmacists Association, said in a statement. “As pharmacists step up to provide care to their patients, we cannot continue to sell known health hazards in our pharmacies”

The association four years ago called on drugstores and retailers that include pharmacies to stop selling tobacco, and urged state boards not to license pharmacies in outlets that sell tobacco.