BEAMSVILLE, Ontario, Nov. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) provisional agenda for COP9 indicated that talks around tobacco harm reduction products, including e-cigarettes, would be postponed until 2023. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) is disappointed COP9 will not discuss the merits of vaping as a harm reduction tool or WHO’s flawed recommendations on vaping.
Leading up to COP9, many organizations including the CVA, were critical of WHO’s regressive approach to regulating safer nicotine products. Notably, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPGs are informal, cross-party groups formed by MPs and Members of the House of Lords), stated that WHO’s recommendations were not ‘fit for purpose.’
In an APPG report, Chair Mark Pawsey states, “…it is clear that since 2016 the number of people making the switch has slowed, and last year the number of vapers declined year-on-year for the first time. This retraction in use has coincided with increased negative messaging in the media about vaping and reduced risk products, much of it fuelled in no small part by the position taken by the World Health Organisation (WHO).”
The positions of APPG are mirrored by the UK Institute for economic affairs who state on their website, “The FCTC Secretariat and the COP meetings are not fit for purpose. In their relentless opposition to vaping and other reduced risk products, they have become a threat to global health,” and “Governments which recognise vaping’s potential to save lives should make their case strongly at COP9. If the WHO continues to spread misinformation about e-cigarettes, governments should withdraw funding from the FCTC Secretariat.”
The UK Institute for economic affairs also voices the global concern shared by tobacco harm reduction advocates that WHO’s recommendations will be used to implement harmful policy. “The WHO influences policy worldwide by putting out negative statements about vaping which misrepresent the scientific evidence. These statements are then cited by policymakers.”
“Action on Smoking and Health said it best, England is not an outlier on vaping: it’s a frontrunner. Removing safer nicotine products from the agenda has prevented a critical analysis of WHO’s recommendations and stifled a global dialogue on harm reduction. The CVA is extremely disheartened that harm reduction solutions will not be publicly discussed as tobacco use remains the leading cause of death,” said Darryl Tempest, Executive Director of the CVA.
Darryl Tempest
Executive Director
647-274-1867
dtempest@thecva.org
