The RELX bioscience lab’s mission is to explore the unknown,” Wen said at a press conference on Thursday. “We want to collect evidence through a scientific approach and strive to prove the potential for e-cigarettes to be less harmful, and in doing so, provide users with the option to choose an alternative.” The move comes after recent regulatory crackdowns on online e-cigarette sales in China, which is the world’s largest market for smokers with 300 million smokers – or almost a third of the global total – according to the WHO.