{"id":27311,"date":"2025-10-16T09:10:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T09:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=27311"},"modified":"2025-10-16T09:10:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T09:10:05","slug":"whos-harm-reduction-stance-contradicts-science-says-former-agency-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/whos-harm-reduction-stance-contradicts-science-says-former-agency-director\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO\u2019s harm reduction stance \u2018contradicts science,\u2019 says former agency director"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A former World Health Organisation (WHO) director has accused the agency of ignoring science and blocking progress on tobacco harm reduction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Tikki Pang warns that the WHO\u2019s current position risks stalling efforts to cut smoking in the Asia-Pacific – the region with the highest number of smokers in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pang, a senior global health consultant at the Center for Healthcare Policy and Reform Studies in Jakarta and former Director of Research Policy and Cooperation at the WHO, made the remarks during a webinar organised by the Asia Forum on Nicotine (AFN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event in August, titled \u201cThe WHO FCTC, 20 years on,\u201d examined two decades of tobacco control under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and debated the future role of harm reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Asia-Pacific region bears a very significant burden of these harmful effects of smoking,\u201d Pang said. \u201cDespite the fact that Article 1 of the convention implicitly includes harm reduction as a component of tobacco control, there is a failure to acknowledge and support the use of safer alternative tobacco products as an important strategy and tool to end smoking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Contradicting science\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pang criticised the WHO\u2019s current approach, saying it \u201ccontradicts science\u201d and fails to reflect the growing body of evidence supporting safer nicotine alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the overwhelming evidence of the safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of these products, and the fact that 130 million people are actually using these safer alternatives, the WHO, FCTC and the COP have adopted a very strong anti-tobacco harm reduction stance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that the WHO continues to claim that products such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches are \u201cas harmful as combustible cigarettes,\u201d while praising countries that have banned them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asia-Pacific\u2019s smoking crisis<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the Coalition of Asia-Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA), the region accounts for almost two-thirds of global tobacco use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe fact is that Asia-Pacific, specifically Asia, has the highest number of global tobacco users. The number is staggering. It is 781 million people. That represents 63 percent of the global total of people who use tobacco,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Loucas also criticised the agenda for the upcoming COP11 conference of the FCTC in November, arguing it wrongly dismisses harm reduction as a tobacco industry concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building new coalitions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rather than waiting for the WHO to change its position, Pang urged advocates to push forward through new partnerships. He called for \u201cevidence-driven coalitions\u201d that bring together researchers, consumers, investors and manufacturers, comparing the idea to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the years that I\u2019ve become a supporter for tobacco harm reduction, and aside from the overwhelming scientific evidence of its value and benefits to health and smoking, I have been struck by the support the cause has received from many quarters – senior former colleagues at the WHO, highly respected academics and professional societies, physicians on the front lines, civil society, consumer groups, and of course, industry,\u201d Pang said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cReflecting on that, I sometimes wonder, we can\u2019t all be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quoting  Australian harm reduction advocate Dr Alex Wodak, Pang said: \u201cWHO\u2019s position on this issue is now as irrelevant as the position of governments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1980s on the future of central command economies. WHO\u2019s position will collapse at some point, but I don\u2019t know when.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO urged to act at COP11<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) echoed Pang\u2019s remarks ahead of COP11, calling on the WHO to \u201cfinally place harm reduction at the centre of the global tobacco control debate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCOP11 is an opportunity to bring scientific balance and evidence-based thinking into the global debate,\u201d said Dustin Dahlmann, President of IEVA. \u201cIf WHO and governments continue to overlook harm reduction, the decline in smoking rates could stall – or even reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IEVA warned that millions of smokers could be left without effective alternatives if the WHO continues to treat all nicotine products as equally harmful. The alliance urged policymakers to recognise the role of flavours, proportionate regulation and factual communication in helping adult smokers switch away from cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must move beyond ideology and focus on outcomes,\u201d Dahlmann said. \u201cScience shows that vaping helps smokers quit and reduces harm. A smoke-free future is only achievable if harm reduction and the availability of vaping flavours are recognised as central pillars of tobacco control.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A former World Health Organisation (WHO) director has accused the agency of ignoring science and blocking progress on tobacco harm reduction. Professor Tikki Pang warns that the WHO\u2019s current position risks stalling efforts to cut smoking in the Asia-Pacific – the region…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":27312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[27,334,186],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-27311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-article","tag-global","tag-nicotine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27318,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27311\/revisions\/27318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27311"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=27311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}