The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) released a scathing report this weekend, calling out governments for failing to uphold basic human rights in public health policy, particularly in their handling of tobacco control.
Titled “The Right to Health and Public Health Policy,” the report criticizes the continued overregulation or banning of safer nicotine alternatives like vaping, while combustible cigarettes remain widely accessible. Authors Nancy Loucas and Clarisse Virgino argue this contradicts international human rights laws guaranteeing the right to health.
“Governments are demonstrating extraordinary hypocrisy in their approach to tobacco control,” said Loucas. “They simultaneously tax tobacco products, creating reliance on tobacco revenue, whilst claiming to fight tobacco use.”
The report calls for urgent reform, demanding public health systems prioritize accessibility, scientific integrity, and harm reduction. Without accountability and transparency, CAPHRA warns, global health inequalities will only worsen.