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Survey of Consumer Organisations

Knowledge Action Change has published a paper that details the global state of tobacco harm reduction advocacy organisations

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Knowledge Action Change’s Tomasz Jerzyński, Jessica Harding, and Gerry Stimson have published a paper titled “Global survey of consumer organizations advocating for safer nicotine products” in the journal Public Health Challenges. They investigated the role and activities of safer nicotine products (SNP) advocacy organisations, seeking to “map the number and locations of nicotine consumer organisations globally and describe their history, legal status, membership, structure, objectives, working methods and activities, and funding.”

The team says that the study “was conducted within the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction project that is funded with a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World…reported independently of the Foundation” and that “The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World had no role in the planning or execution of this study, data analysis, or publication of results.”

As well as organisations that promote the harm reduction potential of electronic cigarettes, the survey also covered those bodies who work to promote the truth about Swedish-style snus, nontobacco nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products too.

A total of 52 active organizations were identified: 13 in Latin America, 8 in Africa, 24 in Europe, 5 in the Asia-Pacific region, and 2 in North America. Most were established from 2016 onward, and 39 were legally incorporated.

“Their reported objectives were to raise awareness about SNP, promote rights to access SNP, and advocate for a legal and regulatory environment in which SNPs are available. They are small organisations: Most are operated with volunteers, with only 7 having any contracted or paid staff, and only 13 persons globally with a paid position. A total of 31 organisations had not received any funding support.

“The total global funding for all organizations was US$ 309,810. None reported receiving funding from tobacco or pharmaceutical companies. All pointed to important achievements in the public debate about SNP and tobacco harm reduction.”

The team concluded: “The organisations are run by enthusiastic individuals, most of whom have successfully quit smoking with the help of SNP. Organisations depend on the input of a small number of core workers, all organizations are under-resourced and potentially fragile, and yet, they report significant activity and success. The challenge for these groups is to gain recognition at national and international level as legitimate stakeholders in the development of tobacco control policy with respect to safer alternatives to smoking.”

The full report can be read from the link to the published paper included below.

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Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.

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