The World Health Organization (WHO) is strongly urging people not to smoke e-cigarettes indoors.

The organization believes that "toxicant" emissions from the device pose a risk to people who inhale its fumes.

WHO also believes that despite the claim e-cigarettes help smokers quit, there is no hard proof this is true.

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WHO wants e-cigarettes banned in workplaces and indoor areas. It said legal steps need to be taken to ban the sale of the product to children.

Because of concern for the younger generation, WHO is also calling for regulations on fruity, sweet or alcoholic-drink style e-cigarette flavors that might entice younger people to smoke.

A report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backs up the claim e-cigarettes encourage smoking within the youth.

Younger people are more likely to first try e-cigarettes over traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes are also being used as stepping stones towards "real" cigarettes.

The CDC report was based on surveys that found one-fourth of non-smoking youths were tempted to try e-cigarettes over traditional ones.

WHO is also pushing for the removal of all vending machines that sell e-cigarettes and items related to it.

There have been very few studies on the risk involved with using e-cigarettes, which were invented in 2003 in China.

Therefore, WHO and other healthcare organizations are pushing for stricter regulations as well as further studies on e-cigarettes.

On the other hand, some public health specialists penned an open letter in May, saying the device is a "significant health innovation" and that categorizing it as tobacco "will do more harm than good."

Researchers such as Professor Gerry Stimson of the Imperial College London and public health campaign group Knowledge-Action-Change said WHO was merely "cherry-picking" the technology and exaggerating the risks, while downplaying its potential to lower the risk of tobacco-related illnesses.