Latest news with #FCTC
News18
9 hours ago
- Business
- News18
Customs, DRI seize 3.93 cr cigarette sticks till Jun this fiscal
New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) Customs authorities and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have seized about 3.93 crore sticks of cigarettes in the current financial year up to June this year to check the sale of illicit tobacco in the market, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Further, the CGST (Central Goods and Service Tax) zones and DGGI (Directorate General of GST Intelligence) have detected 61 cases of Guthka, chewing tobacco, cigarettes, pan masala involving tax amounting to about Rs 104.38 crore till June this fiscal. 'Customs Field Formations and DRI have seized around 3.93 crore sticks of cigarettes in the current financial year up to June 2025," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. India is a party to World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and has ratified the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, he added. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is also working with the Department of Revenue for the implementation of a track and trace mechanism for tobacco products in accordance with a provision of FCTC protocol, the minister said. PTI RR BAL BAL Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Daily Express
15 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Express
12th Global Forum on Nicotine experts fault WHO inaction
Published on: Tuesday, July 22, 2025 Published on: Tue, Jul 22, 2025 By: David Thien Text Size: WARSAW: The World Health Organization (WHO) was taken to task for its refusal to recognise scientific outcomes that prove alternative nicotine products help some 1.3 billion smokers in the world quit the habit, or transition to a less harmful to their health options. This view was shared by many expert participants at the 12th Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN 2025) that was held in Poland at the Warsaw Presidential Hotel from June 19 to 21, 2025. They were scientists and doctors among other professionals. It was reported that smoking causes some 8 million deaths around the world. It is well established that nicotine does not cause smoking-related diseases, which result instead from the inhalation of toxicants in tobacco smoke. High quality independent evidence supporting the role of safer nicotine products in smoking cessation is growing. Vapes, pouches, pasteurised snus and heated tobacco products (HTPs) all deliver nicotine without combustion, leading to substantially reduced health risks in comparison to continued smoking. There was consensus that fear-driven narratives about safer nicotine products means prolonged misery and death for smokers as pervasive misconceptions about safer nicotine products and their role in smoking cessation could see tobacco harm reduction fail to fulfil its huge potential. The Global Forum on Nicotine is organised by Global Forum on Nicotine Limited, an events company committed to providing a platform for global public health debate, knowledge exchange and networking, underpinned by the principles of inclusiveness and multi-sectoral engagement. It does not receive sponsorship from manufacturers, distributors or retailers of nicotine products including pharmaceutical, vaping and tobacco companies. Conference-supporting organisations endorse the event, but have no financial or administrative involvement in organisation of the event. According to Riccardo Polosa, professor of medicine at the University of Catania in Italy, the World Health Organization (WHO) is actively misleading the public about the relative risk of nicotine products compared to cigarettes on purpose. 'They select their references and distort the evidence. There is one single objective, in my opinion, which is to create their own science that supports the abstinence-only narrative,' he says. 'But this has terrible consequences for millions of smokers who would otherwise switch to much less harmful products. In the clinical world, this would be called negligence,' he said, in a special session marked 20 years of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in which leading voices examined the treaty's impact. 'The FCTC has succeeded politically and legally,' said Jeannie Cameron, a policy consultant. 'But if we measure success by reductions in smoking and tobacco-related deaths, it has failed.' 'We still have over a billion smokers worldwide. The FCTC was meant to reduce cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory disease,' said Derek Yach, a former WHO director. 'Tobacco harm reduction is the obvious way to stop this crisis in its tracks.' Global experts are tackling a barrier that continues to undermine efforts to reduce the annual 8 million premature deaths related to smoking: misinformation and miscommunication about safer nicotine products and tobacco harm reduction (THR). The GFN 2025 is challenging perceptions as effective communication for tobacco harm reduction conference is a call to action for change. While science increasingly supports safer nicotine products like vapes, snus, pouches and heated tobacco as tools to help smokers switch away from combustibles, fear-driven narratives continue to dominate media and policy. In a keynote lecture Jacob Grier, a journalist covering tobacco policy who has written for Slate and The Atlantic, talked about the disconnect between the evidence for tobacco harm reduction – utility of products like vapes and snus as safer alternatives to continued smoking – and the fact that hostile media narratives are shaping public opinion and health policies. How can impactful, evidence-based messaging be built that respects both reduced-risk products and consumer autonomy? 'Obviously we need to emphasize credible research. The bad news is that having the facts on our side is clearly not enough,' Grier said. 'Journalists seek novelty, so if something isn't new, it isn't news. Millions of people dying from smoking isn't a story, but a few dozen people dying from adulterated [THC or cannabis] vapes generates months of media coverage.' The Global Forum on Nicotine is the only global event that welcomes all stakeholders involved with new and safer nicotine products, including: consumers and consumer advocates; public health experts; policy analysts, parliamentarians and government officials; academics and researchers; product manufacturers and distributors; and media representatives. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
The Star
3 days ago
- Health
- The Star
Inspiring change
My family is the motivation behind my advocacy work. My dad suffered a stroke as a result of smoking, and now he can't move his leg and struggles to speak. With better public policy, others will not have to suffer like our family. My parents are very supportive of me because they are victims of smoking. My dad has decided to quit not just because of the illness, but also because he has heard me speak to international audiences and it made him cry. But what really made me want to deep dive into tobacco control happened nine years ago. My friends and I were arrested for organising a student protest at a tobacco event that was promoting these harmful products to youth. When we got out of jail, there were many activists like us waiting outside and they said, 'We will back you up. If you are not allowed home, we too will not go home.' That crucial moment led me here. Manik Marganamahendra Executive director Indonesian Youth Council for Tactical Changes (IYCTC), Jakarta, Indonesia Manik has played a pivotal role in campaigns such as #SaveOurSurroundings (SOS), which raises awareness about the wide-ranging impact of tobacco, including its economic, human rights, and environmental consequences. In just one year, the SOS Movement has successfully engaged with five regional government offices, five national ministries, and more than 10 local and national legislative bodies in support of stronger tobacco control policies. For his decade-long contributions in tobacco control advocacy, Manik was recently named a Global Young Ambassador of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids – a recognition of his leadership on the international stage. I started on this path eight years ago. My father was a chain smoker for decades. Now, he is facing serious health complications and my mother, who never puffed on a single cigarette, had to battle breast cancer after years of exposure to second-hand smoke. As a basketball coach, I've watched with growing concern as e-cigarettes make their way into the hands of my young charges. Disguised in sleek packaging and marketed as cool, these vapes are falsely said to be harmless. What's worse, some of them believe it. To see kids as young as 13 having access to these devices is frustrating and alarming. I refuse to watch another generation be dragged into a cycle of addiction, illness and environmental harm caused by tobacco. Gene Navarra Gesite Jr. Project coordinator Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC), Philippines Gesite is an international affairs professional with over eight years of experience in policy analysis, project development and management, research, and international relations. At GGTC, he oversees project implementation and supports campaign and advocacy efforts to promote the universal adoption and enforcement of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Gesite also serves as the coordinator of the Global Youth Voices (GYV), a movement that unites global, regional and local youth organisations in over 130 countries, to make the industry pay for the harms caused by tobacco to the planet and its people. His work focuses on coalition-building, strategic partnerships, and global campaigns that empower youth advocacy, capacity-building, and awareness-raising initiatives. Like many young people, I got involved in fighting tobacco because it was harming those I cared about. It started when the same friends I had swum lap after lap with in the pool began vaping flavoured e-cigarettes between practices. I remember watching them disappear into bathrooms that had become vape lounges. Out of concern, I confided in my seventh-grade health teacher, who soon taught me about the dangers of these devices. Our conversation turned my protective instinct into purpose. I set out on a mission to create change through collective learning and activism, and helped build the first tobacco prevention programmes at my middle and high schools. Agamroop Kaur Youth ambassador Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Appointed by former California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, the student of cognitive science and global health at University of California, Los Angeles, began her tobacco control advocacy at age 12, creating prevention programmes at her school. The 2022 Barrie Fiske National Youth Advocate of the Year started her tobacco control advocacy so that her younger siblings, cousins and the students who come after her can learn and grow in a safe environment. She produced the award-winning documentary 'Big Tobacco, Bigger Epidemic', which examines corporate influence and regulatory failures behind the US youth e-cigarette crisis, and has served on the board of directors of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Focus Malaysia
05-07-2025
- Health
- Focus Malaysia
'M'sia needs a tobacco harm reduction strategy not more confusion and bans'
As the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) marks its 20th anniversary, the global conversation about how to reduce smoking-related deaths is reaching a critical turning point. For Malaysia, this isn't just a theoretical debate — it's an urgent policy issue affecting millions of lives and livelihoods. Last year, Parliament passed the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, which for the first time provides a legal framework for regulating e-cigarettes, vape liquids, and other alternative nicotine products. The Act, long overdue, was a step forward in recognising that people smoke for nicotine but die from the tar and toxins in burning tobacco. Yet after the law's passage, state governments like Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang have announced complete bans on the sale of vape products, sparking legal uncertainty, public confusion, and frustration among stakeholders. These state-level prohibitions not only undermine the national regulatory framework but also highlight a glaring omission in Malaysia's tobacco control strategy: the lack of recognition for tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a legitimate public health approach. Harm reduction: A proven strategy, not a loophole Globally, countries like Sweden, New Zealand, and the UK have made dramatic strides in reducing smoking rates by embracing lower-risk alternatives such as vaping, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products. Sweden, for example, is on track to become the first smoke-free country in the EU — thanks largely to its harm reduction strategy using snus, a smokeless tobacco product. In the UK, Public Health England has repeatedly found that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking. Meanwhile in the US, a recent study published in Addictive Behaviours found that non-tobacco e-cigarette flavours significantly improved smoking reduction and cessation outcomes compared to tobacco-only flavours. Among participants, 95% chose non-tobacco flavours, and those using them were more likely to continue vaping (74% vs 55%), reduce cigarette consumption by at least half by the end of the trial (34% vs 14%), sustain that reduction after six months (29% vs 5%), and completely quit smoking (14% vs 5%). These findings suggest that flavours play a crucial role in supporting smokers to reduce or quit smoking through vaping. Yet here in Malaysia, such evidence is often ignored or dismissed. Instead of leveraging these tools to reduce the country's 4.8 million smokers, policy debates remain trapped in outdated 'quit or die' thinking, where abstinence is the only accepted path — and everything else is framed as a threat rather than an opportunity. What's at stake for Malaysia? Smoking remains one of the leading preventable causes of death in Malaysia, claiming an estimated 27,000 lives annually. The economic burden is also massive, costing the public healthcare system billions each year in treatment for smoking-related diseases. We cannot afford to wait for abstinence-only policies to work — especially when they've failed for decades. Nor should we allow state-level bans to fracture the national approach, sow confusion among consumers, and penalise small businesses trying to operate within legal boundaries. A clear, national-level commitment to tobacco harm reduction is essential. That means: Recognising THR in national health strategy documents, including the National Strategic Plan for Non-Communicable Diseases. Investing in research and public education about the relative risks of various nicotine products. Respecting regulatory coherence, so that individual states do not undo the progress made at the federal level. The FCTC must evolve — and so must we Much of the reluctance to embrace harm reduction stems from the FCTC's rigid stance on nicotine products. While the treaty has been instrumental in reducing smoking globally, it has become increasingly dogmatic — discouraging innovation and painting all nicotine use with the same brush. This approach may work in theory, but in practice, it ignores the realities faced by developing countries like Malaysia, where smoking prevalence remains high and healthcare access is uneven. Harm reduction tools — if properly regulated — offer a low-cost, scalable solution to help millions quit smoking and avoid chronic disease. Malaysia must assert its policy autonomy and lead with evidence, not ideology. We should not fear criticism from international bodies for charting our own course. After all, health policy should serve the people of Malaysia — not the preferences of distant bureaucrats. Conclusion: Time to catch up with the science The tools to reduce smoking are already here. What's missing is the political courage to embrace them. If we truly want to cut smoking rates, lower healthcare costs, and save lives, then harm reduction must be part of the strategy—not pushed to the margins or banned outright. We owe it to Malaysian smokers — and future generations — to offer better choices, not fewer. — July 5, 2025 Tarmizi Anuwar is the Country Associate for Malaysia at the Consumer Choice Centre. The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Scoop
29-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
GFN25 Celebrates Breakthrough Success In Tobacco Harm Reduction As Evidence Mounts Against WHO Opposition
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) celebrates the success of GFN25, the 12th Global Forum on Nicotine, which concluded in Warsaw on 21 June 2025, delivering compelling evidence that tobacco harm reduction continues gaining momentum despite opposition from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The three-day conference, themed "Challenging Perceptions – Effective Communication for Tobacco Harm Reduction," brought together leading scientists, healthcare professionals, and consumer advocates who presented groundbreaking research demonstrating safer nicotine products' effectiveness. Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA, said: "GFN25 has highlighted the scientific evidence supporting tobacco harm reduction is overwhelming, yet the WHO continues its campaign against products that could save millions of lives. Denying smokers access to safer alternatives is a moral failure." Dr Mark Tyndall's keynote address, "What's so scary about tobacco harm reduction?" challenged stigma plaguing tobacco harm reduction policy, drawing parallels between drug harm reduction successes and potential tobacco control outcomes. The conference featured the prestigious Michael Russell Oration and Award ceremony, recognising outstanding contributions to tobacco harm reduction science. The award honoured Fiona Patten, from Australia, whose tireless advocacy for harm reduction was well deserved." Advertisement - scroll to continue reading CAPHRA highlighted how discussions reinforced the importance of consumer voices in tobacco harm reduction. There were multiple consumer sessions for Latin America, central Asia and Eastern Europe highlighting the challenges and opportunities for THR in LMICs. Asa Saligupta, from ECST Thialand, participated in a session on 20 years of FCTC with esteemed experts such as Derek Yach and Tikki Pangestu, both of whom helped craft the original treaty, and are well placed to evaluate its importance and intentions towards THR. This was especially timely mounting evidence, the WHO's Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025 report focuses exclusively on traditional tobacco control whilst ignoring harm reduction approaches. The WHO's MPOWER framework excludes safer nicotine products, maintaining an abstinence-only approach proven inadequate for millions of smokers. "The WHO's refusal to acknowledge evidence is condemning millions to preventable deaths," said Loucas. "New Zealand has shown what's possible when governments trust science. The WHO's ideological opposition betrays its mission to improve global health." CAPHRA calls on governments to follow scientific evidence from GFN25 and adopt policies prioritising harm reduction alongside traditional tobacco control. Effective tobacco control requires comprehensive approaches including access to safer alternatives for those unable to quit nicotine. "The evidence is clear, the science settled, and the moral imperative undeniable," concluded Loucas. "It's time for the WHO and governments to stop playing politics with people's lives and trust science showing safer nicotine products can end the smoking epidemic."
