CAPHRA Emphasises 'Lived Experience'
To be serious about stamping out smoking, next NZ government needs to embrace consumers' lived experience, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates
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by Dave Cross
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“The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) claims global leadership for anti-smoking and tobacco control measures, but WHO's leadership stubbornly closes its mind to the net benefits of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) alternatives, including vaping", said Nancy Loucas, a prominent New Zealand public health consumer advocate and executive coordinator of CAPHRA.
"WHO needs to provide honest, risk-proportionate communication and regulatory guidance to member states for THR products, including vaping. Its unbending promotion of blanket prohibitions, treating vaping and smoking as equally dangerous, are misguided", Ms Loucas said.
"While not risk-free, THR products are less harmful alternatives to smoking. They can help smokers quit, and the current Labour and previous National government recognised that", she added.
"It's now critical that smokers have access to accurate information about these alternatives, and that regulation of THR products is risk-proportionate.
“Instead of ignoring them, WHO, and member countries including New Zealand, should consult with, and include, vapers and other THR product users in the formulation of policies hugely affecting their lives.”
"Furthermore, engaging with adult consumers can help WHO, and domestic policy-makers, better to understand real problems including youth vaping and the vaping black market, and to implement programmes and strategies to combat them", Ms Loucas continued. "It's a no-brainer."
CAPHRA is calling on the New Zealand Government and next Minister of Health to ask all Member States attending the 10th FCTC Conference of Parties on November 20-25 in Panama City to reject prohibitionist proposals on the agenda that will just further contribute to millions more of unnecessary deaths from smoking.
"The public health establishment internationally is so set in its ways, so blinkered in its outlook, that it refuses to see that THR, as a major disruptor of Big Tobacco's business model, has far more upside then downside", Nancy added.
"But consumers know this very well from their own lived experience.
"Consumers want to with the public health establishment, and governments including the next New Zealand government, as partners with lived experience, instead of being treated as ignorant or as enemies. 'Just talk to us' is our message.
"And, as a jurisdiction where more liberalised THR access and regulation is contributing to serious progress in reducing smoking rates, New Zealand's can be an influential voice in Panama City on behalf of the over one billion smokers whose lives are in danger if they continue to smoke.”
CAPHRA is calling on the incoming New Zealand Government to:
- Promote and encourage urgent additional scientific research and studies into the benefits and risks of THR products, given that public health authorities constantly urge action against them claiming the lack of authoritative scientific evidence.
- Include representatives of THR consumers in the New Zealand delegation to the Panama City FCTC meeting in November.
- Oppose the FCTC:
- Treating THR products as tobacco products, and therefore regulating and taxing vaping the same way as smoking;
- Treating vaping aerosols as smoke and therefore extending very restrictive FCTC provisions coverage to THR products;
- Banning all THR products flavours and open systems, online sales and product communications – tools that most help smokers to switch to THR products; endorsing undue restrictions on nicotine salts and nicotine delivery and nicotine content in general; and
- Endorsing any radical progressive tobacco control measures being extended to novel and emerging tobacco products without supporting scientific evidence.
References:
- Shadow Report on the (NON)-Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 1 (d) on Harm Reduction Strategies - Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates, August 2023 - https://caphraorg.net/wp-content/pdf/FCTC_Shadow_Report.pdf
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave 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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