| One hundred health specialists are urging their respective country representatives in a letter to pressure the WHO to modernize tobacco policies at the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control event in November. gettyimagesbank |
By Kim Hyun-bin
One hundred public health experts from around the globe are calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to modernize its tobacco policies and take a more positive stance on tobacco harm reduction strategies at the upcoming Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
The FCTC is scheduled to hold its Ninth Conference of the Parties online from Nov. 8 to 13.
“We are independent experts in tobacco and nicotine science and policy. We write to urge parties to the FCTC to encourage WHO to support and promote the inclusion of tobacco harm reduction into the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” they said in a joint letter.
“Cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products are responsible for the vast majority of the deaths caused by tobacco use globally. Smoke-free nicotine products offer a promising route to reducing the harms arising from smoking. There is compelling evidence that smoke-free products are much less harmful than cigarettes and that they can displace smoking for individuals and at the population level.”
The letter was also shared by leading British anti-tobacco campaigner Clive Bates, the former director of the anti-smoking campaign group ASH, who praised the 100 experts' efforts and shared the letter on Twitter.
The group says the WHO is rejecting a public health strategy that could prevent millions of smoking-related deaths, stating seven points that need to be addressed, including: tobacco harm reduction presents significant public health opportunities, e-cigarettes are a driver of smoking cessation, tobacco harm reduction can contribute to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), major regulatory assessments and experience support heated tobacco products, policymakers must recognize unintended consequences of policy proposals, place adolescent ENDS use in proper context, and that there is public health support for harm reduction in tobacco control.
The group also gave six recommendations for the WHO to modernize its tobacco strategies.
1. Make tobacco harm reduction a component of the global strategy to meet the SDGs for health, notably SDG 3.4 on non-communicable diseases.
2. Insist that any WHO policy analysis makes a proper assessment of benefits to smokers or would-be smokers, including adolescents, as well as risks to users and non-users of these products.
3. Require any policy proposals, particularly prohibitions, to reflect the risks of unintended consequences, including potential increases in smoking and other adverse responses.
4. Properly apply Article 5.3 of the FCTC to address genuine tobacco industry malpractice, but not to create a counterproductive barrier to reduced-risk products that have public health benefits or to prevent critical assessment of industry data strictly on its scientific merits.
5. Make the FCTC negotiations more open to stakeholders with harm-reduction perspectives, including consumers, public health experts and some businesses with significant specialized knowledge not held within the traditional tobacco control community.
6. Initiate an independent review of the WHO and the FCTC approach to tobacco policy in the context of the SDGs. Such a review could address the interpretation and use of science, the quality of policy advice, stakeholder engagement and accountability and governance.
“We believe that it is time for global tobacco policy to draw on the full potential of tobacco harm reduction. We hope the public health science, policy, and practitioner communities will converge on a common purpose to meet the SDGs and to reduce the global burden of tobacco-related disease and premature mortality as quickly and deeply as possible,” the group added.