Ahead of the WHO summit on tobacco and smoking, there is growing concern that e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine products will be subject to more restrictions than before. INNCO is now organizing several actions in London to draw attention to the issue for the British delegation to COP9.
"Thank you for doing the right thing!"
That's the message as representatives of the umbrella organization INNCO gather outside Parliament in London on Monday. The demonstration comes as COP9, a meeting on the WHO's tobacco control framework, kicks off behind virtual, yet closed doors this week.
"We would like to thank the UK government for their work on tobacco harm reduction. At the same time, we want to encourage them to push the issue also within the WHO and spread their evidence-based approach worldwide" says Charles Gardner, vejpare and Secretary General of INNCO, International network of nicotine consumer organizations.
"We save our lives"
INNCO is an umbrella organization with members in 37 countries. Its members are non-profit organizations working in various ways for tobacco harm reduction locally and internationally.
"We are former smokers who use less harmful nicotine products to avoid relapsing into smoking. This is how we save our lives. At the same time, we are stigmatized and suspected, just because we use nicotine - a drug that in a purer form does not really cause more harm than caffeine" says Charles Gardner.
Breaking stigma and raising awareness
Breaking the stigma of nicotine use is at the heart of harm reduction for smokers.
This is also one of the reasons why the UK model has attracted some attention. Furthermore, highlighting less harmful nicotine products as a tool to reduce smoking goes against the WHO's position on the issue. According to the WHO, products such as e-cigarettes, snus and nicotine pouches are considered at least as harmful as cigarettes. This is something that several UK health institutions, doctors and scientists have repeatedly protested against.
"Right now, misleading information about harm reduction is spreading around the world at a rapid pace. And the only way to counter it is to disseminate sound science and translate it into evidence-based strategies, as is being done in the UK," says Charles Gardner.
Stopped by tough legislation
He argues that the UK's commitment to smokers carries weight. Their approach would benefit public health, especially in low- and middle-income countries, where the supply of cigarettes is almost unlimited but access to less harmful alternatives has become almost non-existent.
"With the backing of the WHO, many countries, often those with state tobacco companies, impose disproportionate and restrictive legislation based on prejudice, harm reduction and ignorance of nicotine" says Charles Gardner.
He stresses that although the UK has come a long way in tobacco harm reduction, it is not alone.
"New Zealand, France, Estonia, even the US, are moving in the same direction. The US FDA recently concluded that e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn products and snus can be suitable for protecting public health. In doing so, they have recognized the concept of harm reduction. It may not be done in the best possible way, but it is important nonetheless", says Charles Gardner.
Politicians for e-cigarettes
In conjunction with the demonstration, INNCO is organizing a meeting with British doctors and politicians.
Mark Pawsey leads a cross-party group in Parliament to promote e-cigarettes as an alternative for smokers:
"Since we introduced vejpning as a tool to reduce smoking, the proportion of smokers has steadily decreased. We see a similar trend in New Zealand. In contrast, we see that countries, which have a more skeptical view of e-cigarettes, are still struggling to reduce smoking. And the WHO recently praised India, a country where nearly one million people die each year from smoking, for banning e-cigarettes," writes Mark Pawsey in The Daily Express.
The UK has the second lowest smoking rate in Europe after Sweden, with an average of 14%. In Sweden, where around 1 million people prefer snus to cigarettes, the average is 7%.
Hello!
I wonder if you have ever asked David Eberhard if he would like to invite you to his podcast "Health for the Unhealthy"? They've had several episodes on tobacco harm minimization, like the most recent one but then they've almost only talked about snus and only mentioned vejpning in passing.