Global Forum on Nicotine: Experts call for worldwide access to safer nicotine to reduce deadly smoking-related harms
PR90114
LIVERPOOL, England, June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --
International public health specialists, scientists, doctors, tobacco control
experts and consumers are convening for the Global Forum on Nicotine 2021 (
https://gfn.events/ ) (#GFN21) on 17 and 18 June in Liverpool, UK, and
streaming free online ( https://gfn.events/register-now ), to highlight the
vital role of safer nicotine products in the fight to reduce global
smoking-related death and disease.
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1533686/KAC_Communications_GFN21.jpg
To date, the world has lost an estimated 3.8 million (
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html ) people to COVID-19; a devastating figure
that is, sadly, less than half the annual death toll from smoking (
). Every day, 1.1 billion smokers still light up around the world, a number
that has stalled for over 20 years despite decades of tobacco control efforts.
Eighty per cent of the world's smokers live in LMIC, least able to cope with
the disease burden of smoking and in higher income countries, smoking is a
major cause of health inequalities.
People smoke to obtain nicotine, a comparatively low-risk substance, but are
harmed by thousands of toxins released when tobacco burns. Experts at the
Global Forum on Nicotine ( https://gfn.events/programme ) will discuss an
approach called tobacco harm reduction; adult smokers who cannot quit nicotine
are encouraged to switch from dangerous combustible or oral products to safer
nicotine products including vapes (e-cigarettes), pasteurised snus, non-tobacco
nicotine pouches and heated tobacco devices. Compared to continued smoking, all
are significantly less harmful to health.
Speaking ahead of the conference, GFN ( https://gfn.events/ ) director
Professor Gerry Stimson, emeritus professor at Imperial College London (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_College_London ), said, "Up to 98
million consumers worldwide have already made the switch to safer nicotine
products. In England, health authorities support vaping to quit smoking and
vapes are now the most popular quit aid. Tobacco-related mortality in Sweden,
where snus has almost replaced smoking, is the lowest in Europe. And in Japan,
cigarette sales have dropped by a third since heated tobacco products came to
market. Manufacturers must now ensure safer alternatives are affordable to
people in LMIC, not just consumers in high income nations."
Professor Stimson continued, "Worryingly, international tobacco control leaders
are doggedly pursuing an irresponsible prohibitionist approach to tobacco and
nicotine, while the WHO actively perpetuates misinformation on new nicotine
products. Public health will not be served nor lives saved by a war on
nicotine, as doomed to failure as the war on drugs. The WHO must refocus its
efforts on supporting 1.1 billion adult smokers to quit by all available means."
Click for media and delegate registration. ( https://gfn.events/register-now )
#GFN21
SOURCE KAC Communications
CONTACT: Ruth Goldsmith, KAC Communications, ruth@kaccommunications.eu, +44
(0)7801 845192
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