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Tag: harm reduction

  • CAPHRA Develops THR Policy

    CAPHRA Develops THR Policy

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates released a policy framework urging governments to adopt tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a regulated, health-led strategy to reduce deaths and disease from combustible tobacco and high-risk oral products. The framework emphasizes helping adult smokers quit or fully switch to lower-risk alternatives while preventing youth initiation, curbing marketing-driven uptake, and addressing unintended consequences such as underage use and illicit trade.

    CAPHRA Philippines spokesperson Clarisse Virgino said THR should be outcomes-led, combining risk-proportionate regulation with robust product standards, quality controls, and active enforcement to ensure safer real-world practices. The organization highlights that in regions with high tobacco-related harm, a regulated THR approach can accelerate public health gains while maintaining strong safeguards for young people.

    The complete policy framework can be accessed here.

  • CAPHRA Says FCTC’s Campaign Ignores THR Facts

    CAPHRA Says FCTC’s Campaign Ignores THR Facts

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates criticized the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control for what it calls an uncompromising stance on tobacco harm reduction, noting the treaty has fallen short of its 30% global tobacco use reduction target by 2025, with adult smoking prevalence still around 20% two decades after adoption.

    “By automatically dismissing every piece of evidence as ‘tobacco industry interference,’ the FCTC isolates itself from science,” CAPHRA said. “This political reflex perpetuates smoking-related harm, favoring illicit markets rather than public health.”

    Citing international examples, the group points to Japan’s uptake of heated tobacco products, New Zealand’s vaping-led smokefree strategy, Sweden’s oral nicotine model, and high rates of former smokers among UK vapers as evidence that regulated alternatives can accelerate smoking declines. The organization is urging FCTC parties to engage more openly with emerging THR data ahead of upcoming Conferences of the Parties, warning that prohibitionist approaches risk blocking potential health gains.

  • Vietnam Looking to Tighten Tobacco Regs

    Vietnam Looking to Tighten Tobacco Regs

    Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is seeking public feedback on a draft amendment to the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention that would significantly tighten regulations and close gaps in the current legal framework, according to Vietnam News. The proposed amendments prioritize public health over economic interests, align with Party and Politburo resolutions on health protection, and aim to fully meet Vietnam’s obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Key measures include banning the holding, transport, storage, advertising, promotion and use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products; prohibiting the display of tobacco products at retail outlets; expanding smoke-free venues; and increasing health warning requirements on packaging. The draft also introduces clear legal definitions for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, strengthens responsibilities of government agencies and local authorities, and adds new prohibitions on producing or trading components used to assemble such products, with a focus on protecting women, children and public health overall.

  • Cabbacis Hosting Webinar Outlining its $7.5M Offering

    Cabbacis Hosting Webinar Outlining its $7.5M Offering

    Cabbacis announced it will host an investor webinar on January 22 at 11:30 EST as part of its ongoing $7.5 million Regulation A offering. During the session, CEO and chairman Joseph Pandolfino will outline the company’s commercialization strategy for its patented iBlend cigarettes and vaporizer pods, which combine very-low-nicotine tobacco with non-intoxicating hemp and are positioned as harm-reduction products aimed at reducing nicotine dependence and supporting quit attempts.

    The company will also update investors on its regulatory pathway with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, leadership team, and plans for an international rollout later in 2026 to generate early revenue and brand validation ahead of U.S. market entry. Cabbacis said proceeds from the offering are intended to support product development and commercialization, positioning the company ahead of a potential FDA rule to cap nicotine levels in cigarettes, while expanding into reduced-nicotine and alternative tobacco formats.

    Register for the webinar here.

  • Sweden Nears Milestone as Europe’s First ‘Smoke-Free’ Nation

    Sweden Nears Milestone as Europe’s First ‘Smoke-Free’ Nation

    Sweden’s smoking rate is in decline this year, putting it on track to become Europe’s first smoke-free country, ready to eclipse the World Health Organization’s 5% threshold, according to Gulf News. Last year, its daily smoking rate fell to 5.2%, a sharp decline from 15% in 2005, credited to long-running public health campaigns and the widespread switch to lower-risk nicotine products such as snus and tobacco-free pouches.

    About 18% of Swedes now use snus or similar products, which, though not risk-free, experts say are far less harmful than cigarettes. Over the past decade, daily smoking has dropped 55%, accompanied by a 38% fall in tobacco-related deaths among men and a 41% decline in lung cancer cases.

    Public health specialists say Sweden’s blend of regulation, clear messaging, and safer alternatives—backed by high social trust—offers a potential roadmap for other nations working to cut smoking rates.

  • Nigeria Wants THR to Drive Low Smoking Rates Lower

    Nigeria Wants THR to Drive Low Smoking Rates Lower

    Despite already having one of the world’s lowest smoking rates at 3.7%, public-health experts are urging Nigeria to adopt a science-based, risk-proportionate tobacco harm-reduction (THR) strategy, saying the country cannot meaningfully cut smoking-related diseases without offering safer alternatives to cigarettes. Epidemiologist Dr. Yusuff Adebayo said traditional tobacco-control measures should be strengthened but paired with validated low-risk nicotine options for adults who cannot quit.

    Adebayo said Nigeria needs clear product standards, safety rules, transparent labelling, and tax policies that reflect relative risk, warning that high taxes or unclear regulations could push smokers to illicit, dangerous products.

    Adebayo cited countries such as the UK, Sweden, and Japan as examples of risk-proportionate frameworks that have helped reduce smoking rates. He also highlighted gaps in medical training, referencing a 2024 study showing uncertainty about THR among Nigerian medical students. Experts say a structured THR policy could also reduce illicit trade, attract compliant manufacturers, and lower long-term healthcare costs.

  • NPR Article Explores the THR Debate

    NPR Article Explores the THR Debate

    A new article by Gabrielle Emanuel and Arundathi Nair for NPR—titled Can Vaping Help Wean People Off Cigarettes? Anti-Smoking Advocates are Sharply Split—explores the debate over e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches as the WHO Tobacco Control Treaty meeting in Geneva concludes. The story examines the clash between advocates of harm reduction, who see these products as less harmful alternatives for smokers, and WHO and public health experts, who warn of risks to youth and non-smokers and accuse the industry of promoting nicotine addiction.

    The article highlights perspectives from prominent figures like Dr. Derek Yach, founder of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, and Professor Mike Cummings, both supporting harm reduction strategies, alongside WHO officials who stress potential harms and the need for strict regulation. It also explores the historical context of tobacco industry tactics and the ongoing tensions between science, policy, and ideology.

    “We ought to get the evidence and weigh it and debate it — and help guide the policies based on evidence, not on ideology,” Cummings concludes.

  • Opinion: WHO Wants 9x More Money to Control Tobacco. Don’t Pay!

    Opinion: WHO Wants 9x More Money to Control Tobacco. Don’t Pay!

    In an opinion piece published today (November 19) by The Kingston Whig Standard in Canada titled The WHO Wants Nine Times More Money to Control Tobacco. Don’t Pay!, economics professor Ian Irvine criticizes the World Health Organization’s COP11 for pursuing what he calls “nicotine authoritarianism” and seeking an 800% budget increase to eliminate nicotine use.

    “The WHO’s tobacco budget is just over $1 billion, much of it provided by a normally wonderful philanthropist, Michael Bloomberg,” Irvine writes. “But the WHO has been advertising it really needs $9 billion to do its job properly: eliminate nicotine use.

    “The WHO does not need this money. Regarding nicotine, it is a reactionary organization. It refuses to recognize the benefits of ‘new generation products’: e-cigarettes, oral pouches, and heated tobacco products.”

    The piece contends that WHO and many advocacy groups wrongly demonize NGPs, treating them as dangerous as cigarettes, while smoking rates are already plummeting in developed countries. Irvine urges harm-reduction strategies instead of prohibition,

    Irvine, who has had research funded by Global Action to End Smoking, concludes that empowering adults to choose reduced-risk products would accelerate declines in smoking, save lives, and expose the WHO’s restrictive approach as more about sustaining bureaucracy than advancing public health.

    “The challenge for scientists is twofold: speaking up for harm reduction at COP11, even at the risk of verbal bludgeoning by the sinecured interest groups,” Irvine wrote, “and continuing the struggle domestically against a dominant culture policed by self-appointed moral guardians whose harassment of all forms of nicotine serves primarily to delay more smokers’ transition to low-toxicity products.

    “As smoking declines dramatically … we could start distributing pink slips at the WHO.”

  • Expert Urges Nigeria to Embrace THR for Health, Economy

    Expert Urges Nigeria to Embrace THR for Health, Economy

    Nigeria could become a hub for Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) product development and export, supporting economic diversification and public health, says Professor Nnanyelugo Martin Ike‑Muonso of ValueFronteira Ltd., stressing that a balanced regulatory framework would protect minors, ensure product quality, and promote responsible marketing, unlocking both health and economic benefits for the country.

    In Nigeria, the 2015 Tobacco Control Act regulates traditional tobacco but does not cover alternative nicotine products, creating regulatory gaps that allow illicit trade and hinder public health progress. Ike‑Muonso argues that structured THR regulation could boost MSME entrepreneurship, generate tax revenue, and expand Nigeria’s non-oil industrial base, while aligning the country with global best practices.

    Ike‑Muonso points to global evidence that shows THR strategies have driven record declines in smoking rates in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Japan, and Norway. Adult smoking in the UK dropped to 12.9% in 2022, while Norway’s daily smoking rate fell to 7% in 2023, largely due to regulated alternative nicotine products.

  • Healthcare Advocate Pleads for FCTC to Adopt THR

    Healthcare Advocate Pleads for FCTC to Adopt THR

    In advance of COP11 beginning November 17 in Geneva, South African healthcare consultant Professor Praneet Valodia, the director of Praneet Valodia Consulting, circulated a call for COP11 to adopt evidence-based, transformative policies, including the inclusion of tobacco harm reduction in global tobacco control frameworks. Valodia urged for the creation of independent scientific committees to review the evidence on non-combustible nicotine products and recommended that consumer experiences and expert opinions be considered in policy deliberations. He stressed that the COP should support local policymaking, provide reliable information to users, and align with Article 1d of the FCTC to meaningfully improve public health outcomes.

    “I am hoping that COP11 will bring about transformative change in assisting over a billion smokers throughout the world,” he wrote. “There is a lack of evidence in South Africa to show a reduction in cigarette smoking because of interventions promoted in the FCTC. Considering the low adoption of the interventions in the FCTC and MPOWER measures, and the fact that the global smoking trends have not changed substantially after the FCTC’s adoption in 2003, it is time for tobacco harm reduction to become even more important.”

    Valodia criticized past FCTC policies for their limited impact, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where conventional measures have not reduced smoking prevalence and often fail to address socio-economic realities.