HEALTH | WHO accused of ignoring tobacco harm reduction benefits
Millions of consumers are switching from combustible cigarettes to safer nicotine products despite the unscientific slogans and scare tactics raised by anti-vaping organizations.
Source: Contributed photo
A public health policy expert accused the World Health Organization of overlooking the health benefits experienced by millions of former smokers who switched to less harmful alternatives like vapes, heated tobacco, and oral nicotine pouches.
“How do you deny all these people who’ve been able to quit and move over to these products? You’ve never seen anything like that with any nicotine replacement therapy. And why aren’t we studying that?” said David Sweanor, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa. Sweanor has a 40-year career in tobacco control and law.
“It sort of feels like they don’t care,” Prof. Sweanor said at the recent Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, Poland. “The consumers themselves are moving. They’re learning about this. They’re seeing the benefits personally. So they’re way ahead of where many of the anti-nicotine people are. They’re the ones who push for change. They’re the ones who see the benefits.”
Prof. Sweanor said the assumption that new technologies carry unknown risks drives much of the debate on tobacco harm reduction.
“This has often amplified the levels that overshadow the dangers of known risks. This is what we’ve always dealt with, with innovation,” he said. “I think the fact that we’re seeing so much progress, that consumers themselves are moving, that the politicians are going to have to follow that. Because otherwise all they do is lose credibility. The way that’s now happening with WHO.”
He said consumers are leading the shift, seeking out and experiencing the benefits of these alternatives.
“Anti-nicotine groups often rely on sloganeering instead of data,” he said. “They prioritize abstinence-only approaches, potentially sacrificing the health of millions of smokers who could switch to safer options.”
The market for cigarette alternatives has grown into a $350 billion global industry, said Harry Shapiro, executive editor of the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction report. “Over 120 million people worldwide, mainly in high-income countries, now use safer nicotine products.”
Prof. Sweanor compared the rapid change in the nicotine industry to the rise of mobile phones.
He underscored the need for regulations that acknowledge both innovation and potential risks.
“Even with all the obstructions, consumers are moving to these products. Even in countries that have tried to ban them and ban them harder. These products are still reducing cigarette smoking. So we’re seeing consumers move. The market’s moving,” he said. “It’s unstoppable. You’re not going to stop innovation.”
Prof. Sweanor said millions of consumers are switching from combustible cigarettes to safer nicotine products despite the unscientific slogans and scare tactics raised by anti-vaping organizations.
“An extraordinary number of people do learn that nicotine isn’t what’s causing the problem. They do learn that there’s huge differentials in risks. And they do learn that these organizations are misleading them,” he said.
These new technologies provide smokers with less harmful alternatives that could prevent millions of deaths annually because they do not generate smoke, which contains toxic substances. Mounting scientific evidence from reputable public health institutions concludes that nicotine is not the problem as it does not cause smoking-related diseases. Instead, the process of burning tobacco is what produces the thousands of toxic chemicals that cause cancer and other deadly diseases.
The United Kingdom’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities determined from its “current series of evidence reviews about the health harms of vaping by leading independent tobacco experts,” that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than smoking.
