Last week, Ben Youdan of New Zealand’s Action for Smokefree 2025 (ASH NZ) received the Orchid Award at the 2025 E-Cigarette Summit in the UK for promoting evidence-based public health policy and a regulated vaping approach that has led to the country’s 60% reduction in adult smoking—down to 6.8%—negligible youth smoking, declining youth vaping, and sharp reductions in smoking among Māori women. In a press release today (December 15), the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) pointed to the striking contrast in recent recognition as New Zealand’s tobacco control work was given a “Dirty Ashtray” slight in November by the WHO FCTC at COP11.
“This shows the world is splitting into two camps: those pursuing public health outcomes, and those pursuing pharmaceutical and billionaire interests,” said CAPHRA executive coordinator of Nancy Loucas. “This juxtaposition is perfect. The FCTC punishes New Zealand for achieving 6.8% smoking rates through harm reduction. Meanwhile, international public health leaders recognize our advocates for defending evidence-based policy against ideological capture.”
CAPHRA accused FCTC institutions of ideological capture that are skewing policy against vaping and other harm reduction tools. The group questioned the value of FCTC membership for countries like New Zealand that are achieving strong results, warning that continued opposition to harm reduction risks undermining the treaty’s credibility and its original mandate to improve public health outcomes.