Brussels, October 6, 2025 — Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Corporate Officer of BAT, opened the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF) with a call for policymakers to embrace harm reduction and real-world evidence as the basis for future regulation.
“Right now, we stand at a crossroads,” Wheaton said. “One where the choices we make — as individuals, as companies, and as an industry — will shape the future of public health, policy, and perception.”
Speaking under the GTNF’s theme, “Real World Evidence: The Race to Reduce Harm,” Wheaton argued that Sweden’s near smoke-free status demonstrates the effectiveness of tobacco harm reduction. He credited awareness campaigns, consumer access to smokeless products, and progressive regulation for driving smoking rates to among Europe’s lowest.
“Sweden is on the verge of achieving something extraordinary: a smoking rate of just 5.3%—less than a quarter of the EU average,” he said. “This isn’t just a number. It’s a public health milestone. And it’s a powerful validation of a strategy that many dismissed: harm reduction.
“Despite decades of global anti-smoking campaigns, 1 billion people still smoke. At BAT, we believe quitting is the best choice any smoker can make. But for those who won’t quit, offering scientifically substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives is essential. Sweden proves this approach works.”
In his remarks, Wheaton touted the success of BAT’s Omni program, the company’s global platform and manifesto for tobacco harm reduction launched in 2024. He said Omni is both a movement and a communications framework through which BAT promotes its vision of a “Smokeless World,” aiming to make smokeless products mainstream and push for regulatory environments that support harm reduction.
“With Omni, we’re launching a platform for science, dialogue, and collaboration to accelerate progress toward a smokeless world,” Wheaton said. “This transformation took belief—belief that we could be part of the solution. And today, I’m proud to say: we were right to believe in it.
Wheaton also criticized prohibitionist policies, pointing to Australia’s illicit market as evidence of unintended consequences when safer alternatives are restricted. He urged EU policymakers to adopt proportionate, risk-based regulation that recognizes harm reduction as part of tobacco control.
“How can policymakers not see what’s right in front of their eyes?” Wheaton said. “When safer alternatives are blocked, the void is filled by danger, not progress. It’s time to rethink, recalibrate, and reclaim the narrative. So perhaps it’s time to ask: What if the most effective way to end smoking isn’t to fight nicotine, but to reimagine it? What if the companies that once sold cigarettes can now lead the charge to make them obsolete?
“The WHO continues to ignore and sideline harm reduction, clinging to outdated dogma while real-world evidence piles up. This is not just intransigence, it’s negligence. It’s time for policymakers to stop pretending this evidence doesn’t exist. Seventy percent of policy experts still believe nicotine is the primary cause of smoking-related diseases, like cancer. That’s not just inaccurate, it’s dangerous. If we’re serious about closing the Tobacco Harm Reduction deficit, we must engage directly with regulators, health authorities, and policy experts to ensure that safer alternatives are not just available, but understood, accepted, and encouraged.”
The GTNF is the world’s leading annual conference discussing the future of the tobacco and nicotine industries. It is the global exchange for views and ideas between public health experts, government representatives, the industry, and investors.
