Experts To Challenge Perceptions

GFN25: Challenging perceptions - effective communication for tobacco harm reduction will see more than 40 expert speakers from around the world discuss the messaging crisis facing harm reduction and propose solutions. Registration is open now.

Nicotine does not cause the diseases associated with smoking, which result instead from the inhalation of tobacco smoke.(1) Vapes, pouches, pasteurised snus and heated tobacco products (HTPs) all deliver nicotine without combustion, leading to substantially reduced health risks in comparison to continued smoking. 

High-quality independent evidence supporting the role of safer nicotine products in smoking cessation is growing, including in consecutive gold-standard Cochrane Reviews (2).

Today, data on consumer behaviour shows that tobacco harm reduction is already happening in many countries. New Zealand, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the UK have all seen accelerated declines in smoking rates as sales of various safer product categories increase.(3) But in the UK, where vaping as a quit aid has long been supported by the Government, smoking rates have recently risen in some areas.(4) In many countries, product restrictions or outright bans are planned or already in place (5). Internationally, most political and media discourse emphasises poorly evidenced fears about safer nicotine products, while ignoring the massive ongoing health emergency caused by smoking, which kills over eight million people each year.(6) Meanwhile, messaging from the World Health Organization (WHO) and associated international NGOs is inaccurate and misleading about the relative risk of safer nicotine products compared to combustibles.(7)

Speaking in the weeks leading up to GFN25, Jessica Harding, Conference Director, said that two decades after the emergence of modern safer nicotine products, it was now clear that tobacco harm reduction works. 

“It’s supported by clinical evidence,” she said, “it’s supported by market data. It’s also clear if you listen to those who have switched away from smoking. It’s shameful that people are being misled into sticking with combustibles. As a community, we’ve got to redouble our efforts and make the case for harm reduction more effectively. For over a billion people who continue to smoke, this is urgent.”

In panel discussions, keynote speeches and workshops, participants at GFN25 will discuss practical strategies to ensure accurate information reaches those who need it, including people who smoke, the health professionals who care for them, public health officials, politicians, policymakers and regulators, and the media.

Topics under discussion include effective communications for consumers, messaging and media engagement, as well as an examination of twenty years of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Conference speakers include Professor Tikki Pangestu, a former Director at the WHO, Dr. Derek Yach, who helped develop the FCTC, Professor David Khayat, world-leading oncologist, Maria Papaioannoy-Duic, leading Canadian consumer advocate, Dr. Arielle Selya, behavioural science expert, and journalist Jacob Grier, contributor to The Atlantic, Slate, and Reason.

Organisers say that The Global Forum on Nicotine, established in 2014, is the only international conference to welcome all stakeholders involved with new and safer nicotine products, including consumers and consumer advocates, public health experts, policy analysts, parliamentarians and government officials, academics and researchers, product manufacturers and distributors, and media representatives. The conference organisers offer onsite and online translation facilities into Spanish and Russian for most sessions, and a Spanish-language session will offer an in-depth focus on Iberoamerican issues. 

Registration is open now and a discounted conference accommodation rate is available until 15 May.

Dates and location: The Global Forum on Nicotine 2025: Challenging perceptions - effective communication for tobacco harm reduction (#GFN25) runs from Thursday 19 until Saturday 21 June, with side events taking place on Wednesday 18 June, at the Warsaw Presidential Hotel, Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, Warsaw 00-697 Poland. The hotel was formerly known as the Marriott Warsaw Centrum.

References:

1. https://www.rcp.ac.uk/improving-care/resources/nicotine-without-smoke-tobacco-harm-reduction/
2. https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub9/full#CD010216-abs-0002
3. https://gsthr.org/media-centre/major-new-report-shows-global-transition-from-smoking-to-safer-products-is-underway-authors-call-for-regulation-not-prohibition-to-drive-down-tobacco-related-deaths/
4. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.70032
5. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/single-use-vapes-ban
   https://gsthr.org/faq-smoking-and-nicotine/nicotine-vaping-products/which-countries-have-banned-the-sale-of-nicotine-vaping-products-e-cigarettes/
   https://ecigintelligence.com/france-is-next-eu-country-poised-to-ban-disposable-vapes-amid-regulatory-push/
6. https://filtermag.org/vape-scaremongering-science-media/
7. https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-world-health-organisation-qa-on-electronic-cigarettes/

Photo Credit:

• Images provided by the Global Forum on Nicotine

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.