This rapid assessment survey has been conducted by Pakistan Alliance for Nicotine and Tobacco Harm Reduction (PANTHR), a project of Alternative Research Initiative, on the impact of Covid-19 on combustible smoking and vaping in Pakistan's 11 districts. This rapid perception study assessed availability and accessibility of vaping and smoking during the lockdown and the impact of Covid-19 on them. PANTHR collected primary qualitative data from 120 respondents in 11 districts - Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Quetta, Karachi and Hyderabad.
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This study explores the knowledge, attitude, and practices of users of harm reduction products, commonly known as vaping, in 11 city districts of Pakistan. As the first nationwide KAP study of vapers, this research has used self-constructed sampling frame from the existing selling points of vaping in each selected district – Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Abbottabad, and Quetta. Using the Quick Count Technique.
More than 23.9 million people use tobacco in Pakistan. This makes the country to have one of the largest smoking populations in the world, with grave health consequences, especially for the poor and the marginalized. According to World Health Organization, Pakistan has a heavy burden of disease because of tobacco use.
The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is a nascent phenomenon in Pakistan and seems to be hiding in plain sight. The people and business operators of harm reduction products (HRPs) are keeping a low key to avoid regulations and/or policies that could affect their business concerns. There are no clear or defined regulations for the use of HRPs including imports, manufacturing or product contents. However, the e-cigarettes and other HRPs are legally imported as consumer goods, with tax duties imposed on them.
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Call for research-based interventions for regulating emerging tobacco products ISLAMABAD: Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) has called upon the government to take a research-based approach to sensibly regulate the tobacco harm reduction products in Pakistan, as any knee reaction would lead to more damage to the cause of tobacco use.
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اے آر آئی نے 'پاکستان میں تمباکونوشی کا خاتمہ ممکن ہے' کے عنوان سے ایک پوسٹر تیار کیا ہے۔ یہ پوسٹر پاکستان میں تمباکونوشوں کی تعداد، تمباکونوشی کے مالی و جانی نقصانات، تمباکونوشی کے خاتمے کے جدید تصور اور ملک سے تمباکونوشی کا خاتمہ کرنے کےلئے چار نکات پر مبنی لائحہ عمل جاننے کے بارے میں رہنمائی فراہم کرتا ہے۔-
Assessing the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Cigarette Smokers and Use of Alternative Nicotine Delivery Systems in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study The component of smoking cessation is almost missing in Pakistan's existing tobacco control efforts and policies. There is a need to establish smoking cessation clinics in hospitals and create buy-in through mass awareness. This assistance should be backed with public advocacy on the negative effects of combustible smoking.
ISLAMABAD: The Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) has called for a significant scale-up in efforts to provide effective and affordable smoking essation services across Pakistan, where an estimated 31 million people are tobacco users. "Smoking is a major public health issue in Pakistan, ontributing to a wide range of diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and respiratory conditions," said Arshad Ali Syed, Project Director of ARI.
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination told the National Assembly that the Velo nicotine pouches are non-obacco products and do not fall under its regulatory mandate.
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination told the National Assembly on September 5 that the Velo nicotine pouches are non-tobacco products and do not fall under its regulatory mandate.
Qatar: A recent study by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has revealed that 63.5% of the visitors to smoking cessation clinics successfully quit the habit, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported. Significant differences in smoking cessation rates were noted based on the nationality and educational level of the participants, though.
KARACHI: A study, co-authored by researchers from three countries, has discovered the presence of second-hand smoke in an alarming 95 per cent of children in Pakistan and Bangladesh, putting them at an increased risk of respiratory tract infections and, in cases of babies with hereditary disorders, death.
Every smoker faces different conditions after quitting smoking. When you quit smoking, your body and mind have to get used to not having nicotine, almost every smoker has some nicotine withdrawal symptoms. This article highlights some such symptoms and ways to prevent them.
The latest study done by Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) confirms consumption of tobacco has not declined in Pakistan. The study says tobacco industry has shifted from a legitimate industry to tax-evading cigarette manufacturers in a big way. The LUMS has estimated it is going to cause an annual loss of Rs300 billion to national exchequer during the ongoing financial year.
Quitting smoking brings immediate relief for most smokers. This is a fact every smoker should know and understand. A dependence on tobacco can lead to severe diseases and prove fatal. It is important to remember that no matter how long one has smoked cigarettes, quitting has benefits.
Pakistan is one of most vulnerable low- and middle-income countries with 29 million adult active tobacco users. Smoking cessation services are lacking as the tobacco control initiatives have largely failed to address the smoking endemic. Over the last 5 years, Pakistan has witnessed the use of innovative tobacco harm reduction (THR) products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.
Smoking cessation seems to be a weak link in the struggle against tobacco epidemic in Pakistan. Awareness regarding nicotine is lacking not only in the general population but also among public health practitioners. This lack of knowledge is one of the key barriers to bringing down the prevalence of smoking. Using primary survey data and nonparametric econometric techniques, this study assesses the knowledge of nicotine and harm reduction among public health practitioners in Pakistan.
A study by Dr Eva Sharma has found that dual, daily use of ENDS and traditional cigarettes led to reduced cigarette smoking compared with non-daily ENDS use, suggesting a role for ENDS in smoking cessation.
A new reported published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) looks at the part e-cigarettes can play in preventing death, disability and inequalities from tobacco use.
Syed Yawar, 35, a manager in a private firm, started smoking in 2009. Hooked to the habit, he was smoking a packet of 20 cigarettes a day. However, this also brought cough attacks, chest infection and shortness of breath. In the meantime, like all adult smokers in Pakistan, Yawar made quitting attempts but could not give up smoking.
In my 36 years of fghting the smoking epidemic, one of the most important lessons I've learned is that there is no single action that supports all adults who smoke trying to quit. One size does not at all. I am heartened that tobacco use remains a key priority for global health leaders, as evidenced by the tenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP10) last week. Leaders from the 168 countries that have signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) spent five days discussing the best practices to lower smoking rates from a top-down policy approach.
As in the rest of the world, approaches to effective tobacco control have faltered in Pakistan. Currently tobacco control efforts are at a standstill. Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates 8.5 million tobacco-related deaths annually. These tobacco-related deaths are projected to increase to 10 million every year before registering a decrease.
Muhammad Haider Mehmood, 26, a media monitor, started smoking back in 2015. He was soon addicted to the habit of using 20 cigarettes a day. His health started deteriorating as smoking resulted in chronic health issues. "I am suffering from hypertension and breathing issues because of smoking," he told Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) in Blue Area, Islamabad. He tried many times to quit smoking but he was unable to do so. "I could not give up," he added.
Ahmed Ali, 33, a MBBS student, started smoking in 2017. He became addicted to smoking as he gradually increased the consumption of cigarettes and started more than 20 cigarettes a day. Consequently, his health deteriorated. "I have health issues like acidity, cough attacks and an upset stomach." He toldthe Alternative Research Initiative (ARI), in an interview at Jinnah Super Market, Islamabad. He tried to quit smoking. For this, he has given a chance to Velo but the product has not helped him. Further, he noticed that it has serious side effects on health. "By using Velo, I became a diarrhea patient and have continued stomach issues."
Azhar Bilal, 45, a civil engineer, started smoking back in 1997. Young and energetic, Bilal was hooked to the habit as he started more than 20 cigarettes a day. This resulted in severe cough attacks. "I would have these attacks in the night," he told Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) in an interview on phone from Lahore. However, he continued to smoke combustible cigarettes. "I simply could not give up." He went to Dubai for a job but was unable to quit smoking.
The tenth session of the Conference of Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, along with the third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, will be held in Panama next month. The tenth session of COP will be held from November 15 to 20 while the MOP3 will be held from November 27 to 30.
The most comprehensive study to date investigating whether e-cigarettes are a gateway into or out of smoking finds that, at the population level, there is no sign that e-cigarettes and other alternative nicotine delivery products promote smoking.
It has been scientifically proven that the alternative products - E-cigarettes, snus, nicotine pouches and heat-not-burn - are less harmful than combustible smoking and can be used as effective smoking cessation aid. But it is so unfortunate that the misleading information and a prohibitionist approach towards the alternatives are the stumbling blocks in efforts to end combustible smoking.
Nearly 80% of doctors worldwide mistakenly believe nicotine causes lung cancer, thwarting efforts to hold one billion smokers quit, according to a survey conducted in 11 countries. The survey of 15000 doctors in 11 countries - China, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Africa, UK, and the US - has been conducted by Sermo and funded by the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. The survey is aimed at developing actionable insights for accelerating an end to smoking.
It has now been almost two decades Pakistan ratified the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).Pakistan may have achieved some successes against tobacco use over the past 20 years, the dream of a future without tobacco smoking remains distant.
E-cigarettes may help reduce smoking-related deaths in the Russian Federation, suggests a Healthy Initiative's study. According to their dynamic simulation model, there is significant potential for saving life-years in 88.1% of e-cigarette use scenarios.
ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan continues to grapple with the endemic of combustible smoking, the country needs to review, debate and adopt the groundbreaking advances in safer nicotine alternatives to achieve smoke free future sooner than later.
In 2014, Pakistan made public the results of its Global Adults Tobacco Survey (GATS). The GATS is a global standard for systematically monitoring adult tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) and tracking key tobacco control indicators. It was termed as the "first nationally representative survey planned to collect data on tobacco use among adults as well as their knowledge and attitudes towards tobacco control measures."
Tobacco harm reduction means trying to lessen the harm caused by tobacco use without completely stopping the use of tobacco or nicotine. It is recognized that the best outcome is for people to stop using tobacco, but alternative methods to reduce harm are accepted. Harm reduction is not more important than preventing tobacco use or helping people quit, but instead works together with these measures.
Tobacco is a major cause of more than 8 million deaths every year worldwide. Direct tobacco use is responsible for approximately 7 million deaths while 1.2 million deaths are caused by exposure to second-hand smoke. Many diseases including lung, liver, oral, and throat cancers, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), heart disease, and stroke are linked to tobacco use.
Most of them are cigarette smokers. Compared to them, the users of e-cigarettes or heat-not-burn devices are miniscule - a few thousands. With only 100-odd vaping shops in Pakistan, most of the vapers are from the middle class and rich families, mainly because of the higher prices.
FCA's awards became a center of keen interest as and when countries met to discuss tobacco control. It became a regular feature of the Conference of Parties. Since 2000, these awards have been regularly distributed.
One million smokers will be given a free vaping starter kit to encourage them to give up tobacco products. Pregnant women will also be offered up to £400 to stop smoking as part of a package of measures in England unveiled by the government on Tuesday.
From 20-25 November 2023, government delegations from around the world will meet in Panama City to discuss tobacco and nicotine policy at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Decisions taken at these meetings influence how international tobacco control policies are implemented at a national level.
The future of tobacco and smoking will be discussed in November 2023 when representatives from more than 180 countries attend the tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Panama. This meeting, which is normally held every two years, will influence both the future direction of international tobacco control policies and how they are implemented at a national level.
Since coming on the market over a decade ago, electronic cigarettes have caused a considerable stir in the public health community. It is of prime importance that the debate around this issue is based on high quality, relevant and up to date scientific data.
BAHAWALPUR: Pakistan needs to make tobacco harm reduction (THR) part of the national tobacco control policy and enhance health practitioners' engagement in cessation efforts to reduce smoking prevalence.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan needs to embrace tobacco harm reduction as a critical pathway for reducing the prevalence of combustible smoking and embark on the journey of a smoke-free future.
Cigarette smoking is one of the most preventable causes of morbidities and mortalities. Since 2005, the World Health Organization Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) provides an efficient strategic plan for tobacco control across the world. Many countries in the world have successfully reduced the prevalence of cigarette smoking.
Alternatives not backed by tobacco,pharmaceutical companies: GSTHR. Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) has revealed that most of the consumer advocacy organizations run by volunteers who successfully quit smoking using safer nicotine products.
Many people who vape, or are otherwise involved in tobacco harm reduction, will remember the summer of 2019. That was when Juul faced endless criticism from Congress-by October, the company had voluntarily stopped selling most of its flavored e-cigarettes even online and the media became transfixed on a string of vaping-related illnesses throughout the United States.
At the end of November, an extraordinary episode caused outrage: the expulsion of Karl Erik Lund from a conference on e-cigarettes held in France. Dr. Lund is one of the world's most prominent researchers on tobacco harm reduction. Currently with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, he has published important papers about snus and has testified on behalf of plaintiffs suing the tobacco industry. He has received a preventative medicine award from the Norwegian Medical Association, among many other roles and accolades.
The Federal Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) of Pakistan, in a recent move, has approved the Ministry of Health summary with regard to an SRO to regulate Heated Tobacco Products. For Pakistan, a country where 15 million adults smoke cigarettes, what does this move entail?
Almost three million Afghans smoke daily, the majority of whom are teenagers. Smoking is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Afghans every year. The previous Afghan government made significant efforts to control and reduce tobacco use through tobacco cessation policies and strategies. However, these policies were not effective in reducing the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths.
ISLAMABAD: Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) has launched Pakistan's first knowledge hub on ending combustible smoking. The knowledge hub - www.smokefeepakistan.org - provides latest data on the use of tobacco and the tobacco harm reduction.
A State Medical Society member of PRI recently requested information on the value of vaping as a harm reduction solution to tobacco use. There is considerable information, pro and con, with respect to the subject of vaping and PRI was unable to give its member Medical Society an informed answer. Accordingly, the PRI Board decided to retain an expert with respect to vaping and related issues.
Predicting the future of vaping can be hard - but whether you're in industry, research or advocacy, it's also key to making effective decisions. So every year we invite top experts from different countries, continents and fields to use their unique insight and expertise to peer into the future of vaping. (The extent of geography also means there is a bit of a switch between British and American spelling!)
Globally, almost a third of tobacco consumers use oral products. Smokeless tobacco (SLT) is generally safer than combustibles. But traditional forms popular in South Asia pack a deadly punch, leading to more than 570,000 annual deaths.
Health misinformation is harmful as it can cause confusion and sow mistrust regarding the adoption of public health recommendations and policies. We provide examples of e-cigarette misinformation promoted by the United States public health officials, which have persisted despite new data challenging the validity of the original assertions.
This review describes the evolution of smoking prevalence in countries with relatively high adoption of alternative nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and snus compared to neighboring countries where these products are less prevalent.
In a bid to address health inequality and family poverty, a council in the United Kingdom will soon be handing out free vapes to pregnant people who smoke. Lambeth Council, a local authority in South London, already runs pregnancy smoking cessation services, which include behavioral support, counseling and access to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) like patches.
The Swedish government has officially confirmed that smoking rates in the country have dropped to 5.6 percent, setting up the nation to become the first in Europe to reach "smoke free" status. The designation "smoke free," at least in the European Union and the United Kingdom, refers to smoking prevalence of less than 5 percent in a given population.
Today the idea of ending combustible smoking is being discussed as a reality which we may see in the next one decade. Some of the countries have already deadlines for wiping out the cigarettes. As a step towards a smoke-free future, the world is talking about the concept of tobacco harm reduction or THR.
ISLAMABAD: The government's decision to regularize the alternative innovative tobacco products has generated a debate on how it would affect the tobacco control initiatives in Pakistan. The federal cabinet's committee on disposal of legislative cases in its meeting on 1 December 2022 decided to regularize the heated tobacco products. The government plans to amend the law on pictorial health warning to regularize the use of heated tobacco products.
More than two-thirds of health professionals (70%) in Pakistan perceive nicotine as carcinogenic, according to a new study. The study - Knowledge towards Public Health Practitioners' Knowledge towards Nicotine and Other Cigarette Components on Various Human Diseases in Pakistan.
Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) use has increased rapidly in the past decades and has been widely studied by scholars worldwide, whereas the research topics and development trends in this field are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the landscape of research relating to e-cigarettes. The data outputted from the Web of Science Core Collection database was used for bibliometric analysis. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe the publications' characteristics.
Ahsan Mustafa, 36, started smoking in 2007. He used to smoke 15 cigarettes a day. Six months back he found vaping as a possible solution to quit combustible smoking. "Vaping helped me in giving up smoking," Mustafa told Alternative Research Initiative (ARI), at a vape store in F-11 Markaz, Islamabad.
Pakistan is facing a heavy burden of disease because of combustible smoking, with more than 25 million users of tobacco in the country. Some estimates say the number of tobacco users has reached 29 million. This was stated at a consultation with the journalists of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on tobacco use in Pakistan and how to end combustible smoking in a generation.
A brutal culture war is raging on the role of harm reduction to hasten the end of smoking. But as the Twitterstorms rumble on, the evidence is mounting that safer nicotine products-vapes, pouches, snus and heated tobacco-are helping millions of people around the world switch away from combustible cigarettes and other risky tobacco use.
We are in May 2022. Again in Pakistan, we are hearing the demands of imposing higher taxes on tobacco use to discourse cigarette smoking. As the federal and provincial governments will be announcing budgets in June, the tobacco control activists are again making demands for increasing tax on tobacco.
Over the last four years, ARI has been trying to find the answer to Pakistan's combustible smoking epidemic. This problem, despite all efforts to control tobacco use, is only increasing. We believe the answer is in making Tobacco harm reduction part of the national efforts to control smoking prevalence or in fact end combustible smoking.
The first Tobacco Transformation Index found that a small group of tobacco companies made public commitments to harm reduction, but none had shifted their focus enough to ensure the accelerated decline of cigarettes and other high-risk products.
David Sweanor has played a global role in steering the World Health Organization, governments and nongovernmental organizations to use the most powerful interventions they have to end smoking. His focus on policy measures to reduce the carnage from cigarette smoking, including a leading role on excise taxes, marketing restrictions and smoke-free policies, has long included tobacco harm reduction (THR).
World Health Day is celebrated annually on 7 April, which was the founding date of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948. Each year focuses on a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world.
SUKKUR, March 31: Effective and affordable smoking cessation services along with tobacco harm reduction as part of national tobacco control efforts can help to reduce combustible smoking prevalence in Pakistan.
Today Pakistan has nearly 29 million users of tobacco, up from 23.9 million estimated in 2014. Tobacco is consumed in 45.5% of the households, more in poor (48.8%) than in rich (37.9%) households. The majority of these users are smokers. More than two-thirds of the people (72.5%) who work indoors in Pakistan are exposed to secondhand smoke. Annually the economic cost of smoking for the country has been estimated at Rs 615.07 billion, which is 1.6% of GDP.
Tobacco was not cultivated in Pakistan when the country gained freedom. It had to be imported to meet local demand. Tobacco manufacturing began on a trial basis in 1948. Prior to 1968, however, the standard of tobacco cultivation was poor, necessitating massive tobacco imports.
Globally, tobacco is a leading cause of over 8 million deaths each year and a substantial risk factor for developing illnesses, including lung, liver, oral, and throat cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and stroke. A major fraction of these deaths-roughly 7 million are caused by direct tobacco use, whereas 1.2 million are caused by secondhand smoke exposure.
The Foundation for a Smoke Free World (FSFW) has a goal to advance progress in smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction (THR) with a particular focus on LMICs. To better understand some of the challenges faced in these markets, FSFW commissioned Cambridge Design Partnership (CDP), a UK end-to-end innovation partner, to identify the barriers or impediments to adoption of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in LMIC countries.
Restrictions on flavors in vaping products would be a drastic setback in the battle to reduce the 48,000 Canadian lives lost every year to smoking, according to a new independent study released on Jan. 11.
For decades, tobacco control and public health organizations have sought to stigmatize tobacco, nicotine, smoking and smokers. The invention of vaping, a far safer nicotine alternative which looks like smoking, is a threat to their strongly-held views and the traditional approach.
"The results of our study shows that it might be about time to better facilitate a transition from dangerous tobacco products to less harmful ones, such as e-cigarettes and snus (dry snuff)"' says tobacco researcher Karl Erik Lund at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).
In September 2021, Swedish Match AB announced that it plans to spin off its cigar business and become an entirely "smokefree" company. The spin-off is targeted for completion by the second half of 2022. As Table 1 illustrates, cigars currently represent 28% of Swedish Match's revenue, with the remainder of its portfolio mostly comprising oral tobacco and nicotine products: snus, moist snuff, chewing tobacco, and non-tobacco nicotine pouches.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are due to vote on amendments to a report on Beating Cancer presented by the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) on 6th December 2021 which may set policy direction for the European Union over many years. Among the many areas in which the BECA has been active - including food, alcohol, and chemical materials - tobacco is one of the most important as it is identified as one of the areas which can contribute most significantly to reducing cancer rates. Within this, one of the main topics for debate will be the role played by new nicotine products and how their sale and use should be regulated.
The issue of tobacco harm reduction (THR) is not new in Europe, but now it has received support from an unlikely direction: German dentists. Several doctors associated with the University of Leipzig Medical Center and clinics in Cologne are calling for the integration of tobacco harm reduction strategies into dental care, citing the immediate health benefits that can be derived from stopping the use of combustible tobacco products. One dentist has even begun keeping novel nicotine products in his clinic to show them to patients struggling to kick conventional cigarettes.
Globally speaking, the United Kingdom has the most support rate on electronic cigarettes. In other words, in the UK e-cigarettes share the most prevalence among smokers, ex-smokers and those people who have need in nicotine. But how come? We can simply explain that: 1. e-cigarettes as an alternative of combustible tobacco can significantly reduce the harmful health issues that smoking causes
The ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) concluded on Friday, with the status quo of international tobacco control proudly maintained by its host body, the World Health Organization (WHO). Held online, the majority of the virtual meeting was closed to the public and all but a handful of selected media representatives.
Two United Nations Conferences of Parties (COP) took place last week-both with the ostensible goal of saving lives. But the contrast couldn't be starker. While COP 26 involved myriad relevant stakeholders and focused on transparency in seeking to address the climate crisis, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) COP 9, meant to address smoking-related harms, ended up once again being closed to the public, with any dissenting opinions excluded.
The World Health Organization's fourth WHO global tobacco trends report, which was released today, shows that there are 1.3 billion tobacco users globally compared to 1.32 billion in 2015. This number is expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025.
In criticising Britain's "outlier" approach to vaping, Ben Spencer and Tom Calver cite the anti-vaping orthodoxies favoured by the World Heart Federation and others, but the evidence points the other way ("Vape nation: how did Britain end up so hooked on e-cigarettes?", News, last week).
The WHO and Bloomberg have both made clear their steadfast opposition to safer nicotine alternatives despite growing evidence of lower harm and efficacy for smoking cessation.
In an attempt to reduce the smoking rates in England, the NHS is considering making e-cigarettes available on prescription to help tobacco smokers quit and switch to vaping.
Leading tobacco companies are moving away from cigarettes toward safer, non-combustible products. But ironically, anti-smoking crusaders continue to block efforts to provide consumers with safer alternatives, argues UK-based consumer advocate Martin Cullip of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
Quitting smoking can be difficult, and it seems social media can make the process even tougher. Because even when we sense the health information we read online might not be true, we can still be guided by it.
Here is a brief list of what we think needs to change. What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Visit the links at the end to explore these issues in more detail. See our Glossary for short explanations of the acronyms.
Vaping nicotine is more effective than all the available stop-smoking medicines, varenicline, nicotine replacement therapy and bupropion, according to a comprehensive analysis funded by the prestigious UK National Institute for Health Research.
This report was produced with the help of a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc. The contents, selection and presentation of facts, as well as any opinions expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the authors and under no circumstances shall be regarded as reflecting the positions of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc.
The evidence is in. For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the marketing of an e-cigarette in the country because it determined the help it offers adult smokers outweighs the attraction such products may hold for youth.
We are excited to be making plans for the UK E-Cigarette Summit which will take place virtually on 7-8 December 2021 and hope that the Virtual Summit will provide a welcoming focal point to grapple with the challenging questions posed by e-cigarettes and new novel nicotine products.
Despite ample evidence that snus and new nicotine products can save lives by helping people quit smoking, harm reduction advocates and industry experts fear that European policymakers are less informed about nicotine regulation today than they were a decade ago.
It might feel like they're new on the vaping scene but the disposable vapes debate has been rumbling since they first appeared a few years ago. Back then it was a handful of vape companies bringing them out, with the USA seemingly the main target.
"The brave call by a Thai Government Minister for Thailand to overturn its harsh ban on the sale of vape products has received applause and accolades from around the world," says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
A group of Australia's most respected public health organisations (including Quit, Heart Foundation, Lung Foundation Australia and Public Health Association Australia) recently published a Position Statement on vaping. This document is alarmist and misleading and selectively quotes the evidence. It exaggerates the risks of vaping and uses studies known to be flawed to argue its case.
The Canadian government recently consulted on its proposals for regulating-read: banning-flavors used in vaping products. Its supposed justifications include a perceived increase in youth vaping exposing young people to harm, and the notion that vaping is a "gateway" into cigarette smoking.
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 12, 2021 /CNW/ - The Consumers' Association of Canada (CAC) is renewing efforts to ensure consumer voices are heard as Health Canada prepares new regulations for flavoured vaping products, through submissions, radio ads and a new testimonial video.
Tobacco smoking claims the lives of more than 8,000 Kenyans every year, according to the Tobacco Control Study released by the Ministry of Health this year. Yet, Kenya is lagging behind in embracing the latest scientifically evidenced methods on how to help smokers quit.
Liquid is smoke. Products that do not contain tobacco are tobacco products. If these statements have a familiar ring, it is because you may remember reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four... or at least heard about it. In Orwell's dystopian future, 1984, the totalitarian government of Oceania promotes "Doublespeak" as a means of thought control.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The prevalence of current smoking was 12.4%; that's 30.7 million. Twenty-two percent of Americans were former smokers, the same as the year before.
Two years ago, I published my book The Rediscovery of Tobacco, in which I made a case for taking a liberal approach to tobacco regulation with an emphasis on encouraging harm reduction. The timing coincided with a low point for the cause in the United States. A deadly outbreak of lung injuries caused by dangerous additives in mostly illicit cannabis cartridges had been falsely blamed on nicotine vaping. State and local governments responded by banning vapor products, the Food and Drug Administration ordered many flavored products off the market, and police went store-to-store enforcing emergency rules. In one state, people possessing newly illegal e-cigarettes could have been penalized with up to six months in prison.
Appel aux pouvoirs publics et aux autorites sanitaires: le vapotage est une opportunite qu'il faut integrer dans les plans de lutte contre le cancer, pour mieux combattre le tabagisme, premier facteur de risque.
1) Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is struggling to gain credibility and acceptance among the public health establishment. 2) Those who are skeptical of the harm reduction potential of alternative tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes, worry about youth initiation, the role of big tobacco in research and production and the newness of the products themselves.
Tobacco harm reduction is one of the more effective tobacco control measures, especially when compared to methods such as bans and tax hikes, and is increasingly popular. It is also a measure that the tobacco industry contributes positively to in the form of innovative, reduced-risk next generation products providing safer alternatives to combustible cigarettes.
At least two more vaping manufacturers have taken the FDA to court over marketing denials of their flavored vaping products since Turning Point Brands became the first to challenge the agency almost two weeks ago. Turning Point Brands has also since asked a federal court to stay enforcement of the FDA's Marketing Denial Order (MDO) until the appeal is decided.
It's October, which means it's time for the Public Health England (PHE) and NHS Stoptober campaign where smokers are encouraged to quit or switch to vaping. Stoptober is an annual event that PHE claims has helped 2.3 million smokers to quit over the ten years it has been running.
The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) calls on local governments to conduct health impact studies on proposed flavour bans as research analysis finds anti-vaping arguments counterproductive to reducing harm caused by smoking.
Few countries have embraced vaping with as much enthusiasm as the United Kingdom. It currently has three million regular vapers (six per cent of the adult population) and Public Health England's evidence reviews on e-cigarettes are cited around the world. In contrast to much of Europe and North America, public health professionals in Britain broadly regard the emergence of e-cigarettes as a welcome development that has signicantly
The component of smoking cessation is almost missing in Pakistan's existing tobacco control efforts and policies. There is a need to establish smoking cessation clinics in hospitals and create buy-in through mass awareness. This assistance should be backed with public advocacy on the negative effects of combustible smoking. Pakistan also needs to develop durable mechanisms to control illicit trade of cigarettes in order to restrict available options of buying cheap, illicit, or smuggled cigarettes. Tobacco law enforcement on smoking at public and private places should be more stringently pursued. There is a need to create an understanding about HRPs, backed by sensible regulation. Currently, the use of HRPs, mainly e-cigarettes, is unregulated and limited to the upper and middle classes. The unregulated use of HRPs in a regulatory vacuum may create space for abuse of HRPs in the form of fake products.
E-cigarettes continue to be a polarising issue across the public health world, as was evidenced during an exchange between two public health experts at C3's most recent workplace health webinar run in partnership with the Society of Occupational Medicine.
The World Health Organization has upped the anti on a UK vape ban threat and advocates say vapers MUST act now and fight back.
As the member countries of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) prepare to gather virtually in November for the treaty organization's biennial meeting, vaping advocates are fearful the group could recommend restrictive vaping regulations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated their Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), their annual survey to gauge health and behaviors of American adults. The CDC has been collecting this data since 1995 and numerous public health groups including Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) rely on the annual survey to determine the number of smokers in a given state.
It is simply unacceptable that global consumption of cigarettes is the same today as it was 30 years ago. The International Commission to Reignite the Fight Against Smoking was established with the belief that efforts to prevent premature deaths from tobacco use require much greater imagination and ambition.
Tobacco harm reduction theories and their fundamental principles are questioned worldwide. New indicators specifically designed to establish the harm reduction potential of low risk tobacco products are examined by CoEHAR, with promising results
Only 71 doctors across Australia have signed up to be authourised prescribers of vaping products ahead of the Federal Government's October 1 deadline, setting up a chaotic scenario in GP surgeries around the country in the coming months as more than half a million vapers try to get access to a product that is a normal part of life in countries like the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Bangladesh is set to join more than a dozen Asian countries that have banned the sale (and in some cases possession and use) of vaping products. Like most other Asian countries with vaping bans, Bangladesh has made the decision in "partnership" with a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded tobacco control advisor-in this case the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Two countries divided by a common language" is a common saying misattributed to George Bernard Shaw. US and UK vocabulary differences are of perennial amusement: elevator, lift; sidewalk, pavement; gas, petrol; soccer, football. Brits say "pants" to mean underwear; Americans say it to mean what we call "trousers."
E-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine without tobacco or combustion, are the most important harm-reducing alternative to smoking ever developed, one that could prevent millions of premature deaths in the United States alone.
Few countries have embraced vaping with as much enthusiasm as the United Kingdom. It currently has three million regular vapers (six per cent of the adult population) and Public Health England's evidence reviews on e-cigarettes are cited around the world. In contrast to much of Europe and North America, public health professionals in Britain broadly regard the emergence of e-cigarettes as a welcome development that has signicantly reduced the smoking rate since they became popular a decade ago.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a threat to vapers, not just in other parts of the world, but in the UK too. Consumers have a role to play in protecting reduced risk products that have benefitted us so much and could do for many more smokers in the future
New legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators would increase the FDA Center for Tobacco Products' budget, and pay for it by assessing $100 million a year in user fees to U.S. vaping manufacturers.
Antitobacco organization Truth Initiative recently hawked a new vaping product to stores and ad agencies, but it wasn't actually looking to make any sales.
Those with serious mental health conditions were more likely to overemphasise the risk of harm from nicotine, potentially discouraging the switch from tobacco cigarettes to nicotine-containing products.
Swedish Match has never gotten the credit it deserves for offering products that help save lives, says tobacco control pioneer David Sweanor. And he's not sure the company's complete exit from combustible tobacco will help.
Members of the World Vapers' Alliance (WVA) have written a joint letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) calling on it to "face reality", pointing out that tobacco harm reduction products save lives. The 31 consumer organisations which represent millions of vapers worldwide are joining forces to demand that the WHO ends its war on vaping and other alternatives to smoking.
The NHS has released its quarterly report presenting results from the monitoring of the NHS Stop Smoking Services (SSS) in England during the period April 2020 to March 2021. It reveals that the number of self-reported quitters (105,403) was significantly higher than in recent years. The news has been welcomed by trade body the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).
The Property Rights Alliance congratulates Christopher Snowdon (Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK), Louis Houlbrooke (New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, New Zealand), Patrick Coquart (IREF, France), and Prof. Ian Irvine (Concordia University, Canada) on the contributed case studies on vaping from their respective countries to the white paper, "Vaping Works. International Best Practices: United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Canada." These case studies analyze the policies implemented by governments on electronic cigarettes and combustible tobacco products for smoking cessation efforts in the UK, New Zealand, France and Canada.
The case for e-cigarettes for harm reduction is straightforward. Almost all the harm caused by tobacco use arises from inhaling the products of combustion (smoke) of dried cured tobacco leaf. e-Cigarettes use electricity to heat a liquid to form an inhalable nicotine-bearing aerosol. There is no combustion involved; therefore, there are no products of combustion to inhale. This means the main harmful agents in tobacco smoke are either not present at detectable levels or are present at much lower concentrations than in cigarette smoke. A smoker who switches completely to e-cigarette use ("vaping") is therefore exposed to much lower levels of the toxicants that are the main causes of smoking-related disease.
Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are novel battery-operated devices that deliver nicotine without combustion of tobacco. Because cigarette smoking is sustained by nicotine addiction and the toxic combustion products are mainly responsible for the harmful effects of smoking, ENDS could be used to promote smoking cessation while exposing users to lower levels of toxicants compared with conventional cigarettes.
Despite 8 million annual smoking-related deaths, the World Health Organizations (WHO) seems to have decided that it doesn't have to deal with safer nicotine alternatives until 2023.
"The WHO's tobacco control approach is fundamentally flawed. In 20 years, they have simply failed to make any meaningful progress to reduce tobacco consumption, with over 1bn tobacco users today and 8m people dying annually from tobacco-related illnesses."
Before 2020, I knew very little about tobacco control. My knowledge did not go beyond what most people know - that cigarettes are bad for your health and could kill you. Subsequently, tobacco harm reduction was a foreign concept to me, although it made logical sense. I volunteered in Lesotho with the Peace Corps; the idea of harm reduction was often used when referring to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Although I did not know much about tobacco control, I was aware that harm reduction had been proven to work in other fields of public health.
In a speech I gave to the Global Forum on Nicotine in June, I noted that when it comes to harm reduction, policy lags far behind the science. For years, decades, even, politicians and health authorities who should know better have ignored, derided and undermined such measures, stuck in a past in which the tobacco industry played a big, bad role.
Back in 1998, the WHO launched World No Tobacco Day (WMTD) to highlight the dangers of combustible smoking, strengthen global efforts to get smokers to quit and provide an international platform for new anti-smoking policies.
On June 25, the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new draft guidelines encouraging health care professionals to disseminate clear and up-to-date information for smokers who want to use vapes to quit cigarettes.
Back in 1988, the World Health Organization launched World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) to highlight the dangers of combustible smoking, strengthen global efforts to get smokers to quit and provide an international platform for new anti-smoking policies. The idea was for the organization's member states to present a united front in the fight against tobacco, and their message was stark: quit, or die.
More than 30 years since the first World No Tobacco Day(WNTD), there are still 8 million annual deaths attributed to tobacco use and more than 1 billion individuals still smoke.
Introduction US tobacco control policies to reduce cigarette use have been effective, but their impact has been relatively slow. This study considers a strategy of switching cigarette smokers to e-cigarette use ('vaping') in the USA to accelerate tobacco control progress.
NEW YORK, May 27, 2021 - More than 30 years since the first World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), there are still 8 million annual deaths attributed to tobacco use and more than 1 billion individuals still smoke. These facts are proof that health policies and actions have not been adequate.
About 1,300 million people still use tobacco. One billion of them smoke cigarettes, and many of these want to stop. Every day a smoker over 35 continues to smoke they lose about 3-6 hours of life, thus for the estimated 500 million current adult smokers 62 million days of life are lost every day.
In a report released on March 31, 2021, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Vaping has called upon the UK government to make the most of Brexit by challenging the World Health Organization's opposition to vaping at the upcoming Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties (COP).
On April 16, the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) released its newest report-"Tobacco Harm Reduction: A Burning Issue for Asia"-detailing how countries in the region have largely failed to consider safer nicotine products (SNPs) to combat the smoking-related death toll.
Imagine the outrage if an international non-governmental organization (NGO) focusing on drug abuse called for naloxone manufacturers to not sell their products in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on grounds that it would confuse regulators and the public, suggesting instead that they focus on ending opioid abuse using only regulatory and educational approaches? How would NGOs in these countries react if this international NGO went further and called on governments to ban the use of naloxone? Recall that naloxone is about 85-95% effective in preventing death from an opioid overdose.
In his new book, Good Business: The Talk, Fight, Win Way to Change the World, Bill Novelli describes, among other things, opportunities that may arise from working with a cancelled industry. Ultimately, however, Novelli's inconsistency on this stance reveals the power of cancel culture to stifle dialogue and impede clearheaded action.
In the United States, menthol cigarettes rose to popularity during the 1950s. At about the same time, manufacturers began focusing their marketing efforts on Black Americans. The effects of these campaigns can be felt today, with Black smokers making up more than one quarter of all menthol users in the United States.
In 2020, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), a Bloomberg partner for 'The Initiative to reduce tobacco use', published its fourth position statement on e-cigarettes. In it, The Union called for a blanket ban on all electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
One of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3 is to "strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in all countries, as appropriate." The indicator for measuring the implementation of FCTC is "age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older."
Under the new proposals, nicotine-containing vaping products would be required to carry a warning label pointing out their addiction potential in both English and te reo Maori, similar to the ones found on cigarettes.
Beamsville, ON, Feb. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the better part of the last decade, advocates have fought for vaping to be recognised as a harm reduction tool for adult smokers. In the time since, science has caught up with the industry's message and vaping has been recognized by all health organizations as far less harmful than smoking. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence concluding that vaping is less harmful, smokers and society at large are still being sent mixed messages by the government and misleading information by media to support a sensationalistic narrative.
In Part I, I discussed failures in the implementation of the Global Strategy to Accelerate Tobacco Control 2019-2025 (GS2025). As that post indicates, there are many factors contributing to shortcomings on this front. In the current piece, I focus on one where a country, Thailand, which, in my opinion, is still facing challenges in reducing smoking rates despite putting in place policies as outlined in GS2025.
For decades, the US was a leader in global health. It played a key role in establishing the World Health Organization (WHO), steered the eradication of diseases like smallpox, and guided the development of innumerable standards that underpin modern health policy. Then came the Trump Presidency. Over the past four years, and particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration repeatedly failed to embrace sound health policy, to disastrous effect. The election of Joe Biden must bring about a reversal of these failures.
Perspectives regarding the Report on the Tenth Meeting of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation to be considered at the 148th session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.
It was an era in which we became accustomed to daily death tolls broadcast on TV; work, school, and play shifted to virtual space; and masks served as both a life-saving accessory and confounding controversy. On many fronts, the era was marked by despair, not only from the virus proper, but also from the isolation.
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Global Strategy to Accelerate Tobacco Control 2019-2025 (GS2025). Described as "a blueprint for the global tobacco control community," this strategy sought to accelerate implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Two years later, one cannot help but notice the absence of any report on progress toward this goal-an absence that was made all the more glaring when the WHO relaunched GS2025 last month. Intended to coincide with what would have been the Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC (COP9), this relaunch only highlighted ongoing failures in policy implementation.
Early in 1987 the Conservative government took the radical decision to provide sterile injecting equipment to people who inject in response to the HIV crisis. Only a few months before, it had run an anti-heroin campaign. Now it was giving out free syringes.
I recently addressed the 2020 GTNF conference on the topic of "who is getting tobacco regulation right?". My answer was blunt: at present, very few! If we were, we would not have eight million deaths a year from tobacco use. Nor would we have 1.3 billion people still using tobacco products, most in a toxic combustible or dangerous smokeless form. The goal of a regulator should be primarily to reduce that harm in the fastest possible time. Sadly, this isn't the case today.
The focus of this report is on the contradictions and conflicts experienced by governments that own major stakes in tobacco companies, yet are required to support tobacco control at the same time because they are signatories to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The broader tobacco control environment is not covered by the report, although the context is important.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a challenge for the scientific community to publish results quickly, and publication often occurs at the price of quality and reproducibility, which in turn undermines the public's trust of science.
ENDS are considerably less harmful than cigarettes. Imposing the same tax burden on them (per unit of "harm") as on cigarettes leads to poorer health outcomes. Differential tax treatment of ENDS will encourage more cigarette smokers to switch to ENDS and could save millions of lives worldwide.
Major gaps remain in cessation products' availability and resource allocation for cessation services globally. Current licensed products are falling short on delivering and sustaining smoking cessation. Innovation in cessation products and services needs to build on learnings in nicotine pharmacokinetics, behavioural insights from consumer research and tap into 21st century tools such as mobile based apps. National implementation of FCTC's Article 14 needs to follow guidelines that encourage integration into existing health programmes and health-care practitioners' (HCPs) upskilling.
This study specifically assessed public perceptions of nicotine as opposed to products containing nicotine, which is the focus of previous studies. Apart from showing that consumers often incorrectly perceive nicotine and cigarettes as similar in terms of harmfulness, the authors highlight the need for more accurate and complete reporting by the media to clarify widespread misunderstandings and mitigate public uncertainty.
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the opportunities for tobacco farmers in Malawi from diversifying to cannabis, and the potential benefits for reducing deforestation by producing a cannabis based alternative fuel. It further argues that there are tensions between the conflicting objectives of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
This paper aims to investigate the extent to which three subgroups - people with mental health conditions, people belonging to sexual minority and gender groups and Indigenous peoples - have been "left behind" by countries implementing the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Toxicological testing, population studies, clinical trials and randomized controlled trials demonstrate the potential reductions in exposures for smokers. Many barriers impede the implementation of product substitution in tobacco harm reduction. These products have been subjected to regulatory bans and heavy taxation and are rejected by smokers and society based on misperceptions about nicotine, sensational media headlines and unsubstantiated fears of youth addiction. These barriers will need to be addressed if tobacco harm reduction is to make the maximum impact on the tobacco endemic.
Despite the FCTC detailing the significance of the research, studies are still lacking in the Global South. There are significant research gaps such as longitudinal studies, harm reduction and randomized controlled trials.
For more than thirty years, there have been many calls for the mainstreaming of gender into tobacco control; however, insufficient progress has been made with dire health and economic consequences.
The new generation of tobacco harm reduction products (HRPs) has the potential to save millions of lives and finally end the use of toxic combustible cigarettes.
Smoking-related mortality in 2060 could be cut by about 3.5 million deaths if we: (1) increase access to THR products; and (2) improve treatment, cessation, and diagnostic tools.
Ex-smokers deserve a seat at the table in decisions affecting not only names, but research priorities, regulations, taxes, and bans that affect them.
"Two research studies have highlighted the effective role tobacco harm reduction and cessation strategies can play in achieving the objectives of FCTC and reducing combustible smoking," said Arshad Ali Syed, Project Director of PANTHR. Smoking cessation is completely missing from the tobacco control efforts in Pakistan, he added.
Current available cessation products and services are suboptimal in their effectiveness. Cost and efficacy of current smoking cessation medications on the market is an impediment to availability, accessibility and cessation success in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMICs).
As we evaluate progress toward the goals of the FCTC and how best to update its text, it is vital that we learn from the challenges of other treaties, as well as shortcomings of the FCTC itself. Future efforts must prioritize the end of adult smoking, with particular emphasis on demographics and regions where progress has been slow.
Smokers have never been part of the tobacco control policies in Pakistan. Around 27% smokers in Pakistan at least make one attempt in a year and out of them 2.8% quit smoking successfully.
THC and nicotine vaping involve different devices, liquids, supply chains, people, and purposes. They should not be confused. But they were. Our analysis shows that evaluated news coverage focused primarily on nicotine vaping, and on nicotine itself.
Pakistan is a country with heavy use of tobacco. With more than 24 million...
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Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) works to provide researched-based solutions...
