Press Release | 01.11.2023 | Support for Tobacco Harm Reduction: THR Associations Consensus Statement

Growing support for Tobacco Harm Reduction; Let’s make people’s lives better!

Wednesday, 1 November 2023 -- Thirteen* scientific organizations and associations spanning 4 continents around the globe support the consensus statement of SCOHRE—The International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction—and advocate for the implementation of Tobacco Harm Reduction Strategies to improve people’s lives. The consensus statement was issued in view of the the upcoming Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO FCTC in Panama later this month, to convey a strong message that evidence in support of Tobacco harm Reduction cannot be ignored for much longer.

Smoking cessation and prevention remain the two most impactful and cost-effective interventions in medicine but have been unable to prevent the smoking epidemic. There is mounting evidence in the literature that tobacco harm reduction (THR) strategies can contribute to reducing the detrimental effects of smoking. Switching to less harmful products will have a tremendously positive effect for many people who smoke cigarettes. However, the most powerful message of this year’s Summit —the 6th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction Research & Policy—was that the resistance to harm reduction is increasing as penetration of alternative to tobacco novel products grows and nicotine is burdened with combustible cigarette smoking hazards.

SCOHRE recognizes that harm reduction could make the lives of people better and has the ambition to push this forward to policy makers around the globe until this is implemented!

In view of the upcoming Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO FCTC in Panama in November 2023, SCOHRE has issued a consensus statement underlining the benefits of Tobacco harm Reduction Strategies that is supported by thirteen other organizations pursuing the same goals: to include Tobacco Harm Reduction as a complementary public health strategy to fight smoking and improve the lives of people.

This statement was sent to the US FDA, the European Commission, and many EU officials, including DG SANTE, TAXUD, as well as government officials in many countries. The dissemination of this statement by all 13 organizations* aims at curbing the resistance of WHO to the irrefutable truth that Tobacco Harm Reduction is beneficial. All organizations recognize that it is imperative to provide all stakeholders with science-based and balanced information on the effects of nicotine versus the detrimental effects of smoking. Healthcare and public health professionals need to continuously raise awareness to every person who smokes cigarettes and to the overall population about the adverse effects of smoking and that they can be also limited by tobacco harm reduction, i.e., with novel safer alternatives to cigarettes. We need to increase the knowledge that empowers people to pursue better health.

SCOHRE is teaming up with the other THR associations* to explore how they can collaborate to create new opportunities for the education of health policy experts, regulators, and the public as well as advocate for new research and more data, for evidence-based policies. At SCOHRE we believe that gathering well-documented data, practices, and policies from all over the world is the key element to persuade governments, regulators, policymakers, and the public to accept the value of Tobacco Harm Reduction. Research should be encouraged. Evidence should be evaluated upon rigor, quality, and state-of-the-art methodology and not upon its source (industry or academia) or type of funding (public or private funds).

To share some best practices on THR implementation: the UK government has embraced harm reduction for many years. Since 2015, the Annual Reviews of Public Health England have consistently shown that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking, while in 2017 it has been estimated that 50,000 smokers quit smoking using a vaping device; Sweden is a successful example; it is the first country in the EU to become smoke-free following a long-standing tradition of snus use. The case of Sweden shows that accepting less risky nicotine administration saves lives!

Read the full Consensus Statement on SCOHRE's website:

*Signatories:
European Medical Association (EMA), New Nicotine Alliance {Ireland}, Platform for the Reduction of Harm due to Tobacco Consumption {Spain}, Indonesian Tar Free Coalition (KABAR) {Indonesia}, DIRETA {Brazil}, Tunisian Society of Tobaccology and Addictive Behaviors {Tunisia}, Associazione Nazionale Consumatori Vaporizzatori Personali (ANPVU) {Italia}, Densaulyk Harm Reduction Association {Kazakhstan}, Polish Society of Public Health {Poland}, New Nicotine Alliance {UK}, UKVIA {UK}, Hungarian Scientific Association for Harm Reduction and Environmental Diseases {Hungary}, Quit for Good {Philippines}

ABOUT SCOHRE

SCOHRE is an International scientific Association of independent experts on Smoking Control & Harm Reduction, who seek an open and constructive dialogue to help come up with a new approach to smoking control policies.

Our purpose is to provide stakeholders with science-based balanced information. Tobacco harm reduction debate is still at an early stage and more research and publications are needed.

We need to raise awareness on existing knowledge, benefit from already existing solid expertise in many countries, and create more opportunities for education of health policy experts, regulators, and the public.

We will work to generate more evidence that harm reduction in smoking should be implemented along with smoking prevention and smoking cessation to counterfeit the detrimental effects of smoking.

We will establish new research to generate more evidence to cast out all doubt.