The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) condemns the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat for permitting Bloomberg-funded prohibitionist NGOs to dictate policy narratives at COP11, directly contradicting the treaty’s foundational principles.

The “Dirty Ashtray Award” presented to New Zealand exposes a fundamental corruption of the FCTC process. The Secretariat has allowed ideologically-driven NGOs to write unaccountable rules, then shame countries refusing compliance with a prohibitionist script disconnected from real-world health outcomes.

This has nothing to do with saving lives. It is about control.

New Zealand’s smoking rate of 6.8 per cent – one of the world’s lowest – proves harm reduction works. Yet the country faces international mockery for empowering smokers with evidence-based alternatives. Meanwhile, nations with double New Zealand’s smoking prevalence receive praise for rhetoric alone.

The latest youth data released on 30 November 2025 demonstrates New Zealand’s nuanced success. Youth vaping rates have halved since their 2021 peak, with daily vaping among Year 10 students dropping to 7.1 per cent from 10.1 per cent in 2022. Critically, youth daily smoking is now “negligible” at just 1 per cent – a generational achievement led by comprehensive harm reduction policy. Emeritus Professor Robert Beaglehole of Action on Smoking and Health declared this “a major global success which we should be celebrating … we are leading the way.”

Yet the award ignores this nuance. New Zealand balances adult smoker support with youth protection through regulated access to vaping, disposal bans, retail restrictions, and increased penalties for selling to minors – penalties rising from $5,000 to $10,000 for individuals and $10,000 to $100,000 for corporations as of December 2024.

Supporting countries at COP11 – including Canada, Sweden, Germany, Serbia, and others championing transparency, consumer engagement, and science-based policy – demonstrate the treaty has strayed from its purpose. These delegations recognise what the FCTC Secretariat refuses: countries must develop policies suited to their specific contexts and populations.

CAPHRA Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas condemned the authoritarian approach. “The suggestion that any country or advocate supporting harm reduction must be aligned with industry is unacceptable. It shuts down legitimate scientific discussion. Public health decisions should be based on evidence, not ideological purity tests.”

The chart of COP11 positions reveals stark divisions. New Zealand, Serbia, Albania, Guinea-Bissau, North Macedonia, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis demand transparency and inclusion. Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden engage consumers and lived experience. Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand champion independent science showing pouches 99 per cent less harmful than cigarettes.

Yet the FCTC Secretariat permits NGOs to frame harm reduction as an “industry tool,” ignoring independent research and real health gains closing health equity gaps for Māori and Pacific communities.

CAPHRA demands the FCTC Secretariat enforce treaty obligations. The FCTC exists for countries to develop policies for their situations – not for NGOs to enforce ideological conformity.

Loucas added: “Not all products carry the same risk, and not all countries face the same challenges. Treating every viewpoint that is not prohibition as suspicious makes it impossible to design effective, proportionate policies. Innovation, updated evidence, and diverse contexts must guide public health – not Bloomberg’s agenda.”

With eight million tobacco deaths annually, the time for accountability is now. The FCTC must choose: serve public health or serve prohibitionist gatekeepers.

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today urged Malaysian authorities to reject counterproductive bans on vaping and adopt risk-proportionate regulations, citing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) persistent neglect of harm reduction strategies as a key driver of preventable smoking-related deaths.

The call comes as Malaysia faces pressure to tighten vaping controls under the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852), with state-level bans and stricter nicotine limits threatening progress. CAPHRA warns such measures risk replicating failed prohibition in Bhutan and South Africa, where bans fuelled illicit markets and health risks.

Professor Dr. Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh emphasised: “Enforcing stricter controls on high-risk products over safer alternatives is better than outright bans. Malaysia must differentiate between combustible cigarettes and harm reduction tools.”

Echoing this, Samsul Arrifin Kamal of MOVE Malaysia stated: “We firmly believe that an outright ban on vape products is counterproductive and could lead to unintended consequences, including the proliferation of black market activities.  The solution lies in implementing stricter controls, risk proportionate regulations and robust enforcement mechanisms. By establishing clear guidelines for the production, sale and use of vape products, we can ensure consumer safety.” 

CAPHRA criticised the WHO’s outdated stance, which ignores vaping’s role in smoking cessation. Despite Malaysia’s illicit tobacco trade dominating 55.3% of the market in 2023, WHO projects smoking rates will rise to 30% by 2025 – contrasting sharply with Sweden’s 5% rate achieved through harm reduction.

“The WHO’s anti-harm reduction dogma costs lives,” said Nancy Loucas, CAPHRA Executive Coordinator. “Malaysia must choose: follow failed prohibition or evidence. Sweden’s success proves science trumps ideology.”

While Act 852 introduced nicotine caps and health warnings, proposals to ban vaping in states like Selangor and Johor risk fragmenting policy. CAPHRA urges federal-state harmonisation to avoid undermining progress.

With 68% of Malaysian ex-smokers crediting vaping for quitting combustibles, CAPHRA calls for expanding regulated access while pressuring the WHO to revise its stance. “Malaysia can lead ASEAN by prioritising 5 million smokers’ health over outdated rhetoric,” Loucas concluded. 

COP10 will be held in Panama in November. It is hosted by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) executive co-coordinator Nancy Loucas says: ‘This exclusion of the consumer voice has been one of the main reasons for the misinformation, disinformation and failures of current tobacco control policy around nicotine – including vaping, snus and heated tobacco products.’

She says the FCTC has a mandate to not only pursue Harm Reduction as a core tobacco control policy, but also to involve and include civil society. However, there has yet to be a signatory country which has made the progressive and inclusive call to include consumer stakeholders in their delegations.

This is not the first time members of CAPHRA have written to governments sending delegates to 2023. Late last year they urged them to review the evidence which supports a Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) approach. It included comprehensive reference material for countries’ COP10 planning, submission writing, and deliberations.

‘Consumers are an untapped experience and knowledgebase who are not represented inclusively in the FCTC process… Delegates to COP10 should be representing the rights and aspirations of the citizens,’ the latest letter outlines.

The letter also makes clear that adults have the right to make choices that help them avoid adverse health outcomes and people who smoke have the right to access less harmful nicotine products as alternatives to combustible and unsafe tobacco. What’s more, they have the right to participate in the policy making process that directly impacts their right to health and wellbeing.

‘As you are undoubtedly aware, the FCTC has a mandate to pursue Harm Reduction. While everyone agrees on the desirability of getting all consumers to stop smoking, arguments concerning means to achieve this have been divisive and, in many cases, complicated, often with deliberate misinformation,’ writes the latest letter to government delegations.

Ms Loucas says it’s outrageously undemocratic that the current process does not allow for engagement and involvement of the main policy stakeholders – the adult consumer community.

“Not only does the FCTC choose to ignore growing international science, it bans from the table the very voice of those who utilise these products to switch away from the deadly forms of tobacco,” says Ms Loucas

The THR advocate says the member organisations of CAPHRA will continue to call on delegates to COP10 to deplore FCTC’s policy to make these sessions closed-door, unaccountable, and unreported – representing only vested interests.

“Millions have successfully used vaping to move away from combustibles and unsafe oral nicotine products, yet the FCTC looks set to bury its head in the sand again at COP10. CAPHRA believes visiting delegations must include a consumer voice to give at least some balance to all the misinformation,” says Ms Loucas.

Her comments follow an independent review of scientific evidence out of the United Kingdom which shows vapers are exposed to much lower levels of toxicants, compared to smokers.

The report covered 413 studies since 2018 and used the list of toxicants identified by the World Health Organization, such as carbon monoxide, tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Speaking to the report Dr Debbie Robson of Queens College London said: ‘In terms of health risks, we said that vaping imposes a small fraction of the risk of smoking in the short to medium term. Consistently, vaping exposes people to much lower level, significantly lower levels of risk than smoking.’

The third and latest report was commissioned by the Office for Health & Disparities, formerly known as Public Health England, the highest health authority in the UK.

“Public Health England stands resolutely behind its years’ old statement that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. Those peddling lies about vaping increasingly struggle to rebuke the raft of independent studies and reviews that confirm that alternative nicotine products are considerably safer than combustible cigarettes,” says Ms Loucas.

This latest review out of the UK aims to inform government and policy makers about prevalence and characteristics of vaping among adults and young people in England. Notably in terms of policy, it recommended that the enforcement of age restrictions instead of regulations on vaping and smoking be improved to reduce access for both products.

Dr Robson said: ‘How any information is communicated and more importantly how that’s perceived by the user is really important, for the millions of people who smoke, who will die of or are living with chronic health conditions while we debate this.’

“When the narrative is based on scientific evidence and personal experiences, countries like New Zealand are seeing their overall smoking rate fall considerably. When it’s communicated positively and governments strictly regulate vaping, rather than try to ban it, adult smokers successfully and confidently switch to safer nicotine products,” says Ms Loucas. 

“The WHO does its best to muddy the waters around vaping but over 70 countries have now ignored their advice and legalised and regulated safer nicotine products with considerable success. This latest review will hopefully compel countries to get on and do what’s right for the public health of their citizens,” says Nancy Loucas. 

CAPHRA says despite decades of tobacco control efforts, harm reduction advocacy and public health education on the harms of smoking, the decline in global smoking rates has been frustratingly slow. Sadly, smoking remains the single biggest cause of preventable death when it doesn’t need to be.

Her comments follow several leading international Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) experts compiling and publishing ‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’. It slams the World Health Organization’s (WHO) systematic campaign against, and lies about, vaping. Since its publication it has attracted considerable readership and media attention.

‘E-cigarette use had surged greatly among high school students and young adults over the last decade but fortunately has declined significantly since its peak in 2019. During the same time period, smoking rates have constantly fallen to new low record levels. These trends argue against EC use as a gateway to smoking,’ observed the white paper authors. 

The paper notes that vaping by adolescents and young adults is a legitimate concern. However, it provides comprehensive references from medical doctors, researchers and government-funded agencies which all refute any claims made about the gateway theory.

“The white paper provides considerable updated information on vaping patterns among adolescents and young adults in the United States. What it proves beyond doubt is that vaping is an offramp to smoking not an onramp,” says Ms Loucas. 

The THR advocate says another complete misnomer the WHO and international media love to perpetuate is that there is a youth vaping epidemic. Again, the white paper refutes and disproves this claim with considerable research. 

‘According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the youth vaping rate in the United States has been in steady decline since 2020. CDC data has shown that youth vaping has plummeted by 60% over the past two years. Only 3.1 percent of high-school age and 0.3% of middle-school age students used e-cigarettes daily,’ reads the white paper. 

“All we’re asking for is evidence-based and objective policy discussions, decisions, and risk proportionate regulations. November 2023 will see COP10 where the eyes of the world will be on the WHO and the many international delegates as to whether they’ll finally start embracing the evidence, not perpetuating the emotion about safer nicotine products,” says Ms Loucas.

Recently CAPHRA’s nine member organisations wrote to FCTC delegation heads from around the world, and health ministers and leaders, urging them to review the evidence which supports a THR approach ahead of COP10.

COP10 will be held in Panama and is hosted by the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). 

“We will continue to publish and challenge key aspects of the WHO’s advice to signatories and delegates of the FCTC. Waging war against the most effective smoking cessation tool in the world – vaping – is not working and continues to cost millions of smokers’ lives every year,” says Nancy Loucas. 

‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’ was presented by Ms Loucas at the recent Fifth Asia Harm Reduction Forum (AHRF 2022). To read the full white paper, visit: https://caphraorg.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/white-paper-subversion_of_public_health.pdf

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images, and graphics – please visit https://apthrmedia.org

Titled ‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’, the recently released white paper hits back at the WHO’s claim that ‘never-smoker minors who use ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems) can double their chance of starting to smoke tobacco cigarettes later in life.’

“The use of ENDS does not cause cigarette smoking. Far more likely, is that those same influences that incline young people to smoke also incline them to use ENDS. These factors might include genetics, family circumstances, mental health, school environment, delinquency, risk-taking etc. This is known as ‘common liability’, says the white paper.

“The ‘gateway effect’ has been disproven time and time again. Vaping is an offramp to smoking, not an onramp. Rest assured, most young people vaping will have smoked or would-be smokers if vaping wasn’t around,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates).

“We are dead against minors vaping, but let’s also remember smoking behind the bike sheds in the old days had much worse health consequences,” she says.

The authors also took exception to the WHO’s claim that both tobacco products and ENDS pose risks to health and that the risks associated with both are likely to depend on a range of factors, some relating to the products used and some to the individual user.

‘No respectable scientist believes that ENDS are even close to the risk of smoking. The question: ‘Are e-cigarettes more dangerous than combustible smoking’ is itself an absolute scandal, designed to introduce an anchoring bias’, says the white paper.

“What really annoys us THR advocates is that the WHO constantly compares deadly smoking with considerably less harmful products, making it seem they are equally dangerous. It’s a deliberate comparison which only leads to serious health consequences as people abandon vaping and go back to cigarettes or don’t switch to safer nicotine products in the first place,” says Ms Loucas.

On the WHO’s claims that there is growing evidence that e-cigarettes cause lung injuries, the white paper concludes it’s a ‘shameful and outright falsehood’.

‘There is no ‘growing evidence’ that ENDS could cause lung damage of the type seen in the United States between June and December 2019. On the contrary, since July 2019, there has been growing and now conclusive evidence that this outbreak has nothing at all to do with ENDS,’ the authors hit back.

“We will continue to publish key parts of our review into the WHO’s guidance which they alarmingly provide to signatories and delegates of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

“All we’re asking for is evidence-based and objective policy discussions, decisions, and risk proportionate regulations. That’s how the FCTC will reduce the harms of combustible and unsafe tobacco products globally,” says Nancy Loucas.

‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’ was presented by Ms Loucas at the recent Fifth Asia Harm Reduction Forum (AHRF 2022). To read the full white paper, visit: https://caphraorg.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/white-paper-subversion_of_public_health.pdf

To view Nancy Loucas’ presentation, visit: https://caphraorg.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/AHRF_presentation_2022-powerpoint-presentation.pptx

The Right2Switch petition urging the WHO to respect consumer rights and end its lies against vaping has now been signed by over 10,000 people. It can be viewed and signed at https://change.org/v4v-petition

Nearly eight hours of forum footage is now available on the AHRF 2022 YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o1hXi4aAak

A key question WHO poses is: ‘Are e-cigarettes more or less dangerous than conventional tobacco cigarettes?’ CAPHRA says WHO should have unequivocally answered this with ‘less’. Instead, it puts vaping and smoking on the same footing, declaring that ‘both tobacco products and ENDS pose risks to health. The safest approach is not to use either.’

“If you were a smoker desperate to quit reading this Q&A, you’d likely stay smoking. WHO refuses to differentiate between vaping and smoking. At best it completely deflects from answering what are very simple and straight-forward questions. More so, it delivers lie after lie,” says Ms Loucas.

“The fact that WHO even poses a question about whether vaping is more or less dangerous than smoking is a disgrace. Rather than giving a straight one worded answer, WHO refuses to acknowledge international science that has repeatedly confirmed vaping is considerably less harmful than smoking,” she says.

CAPHRA believes WHO’s suggestion of parity between smoking and vapingis deeply unethical and could have serious health consequences if it causes people to abandon ENDS for cigarettes or not to switch.

“No respectable scientist believes that ENDS are even close to the risk of smoking. In fact, Public Health England stands resolute behind the finding that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes,” she says.

CAPHRA concludes that by kicking off the ‘question and answer’ page with such an inflammatory question, which WHO then refuses to clearly answer, is designed to introduce an ‘anchoring bias’ into its public health guidance.

“WHO does its best to establish the idea that the question on everyone’s mind is whether ENDs are as dangerous as cigarettes. By then suggesting parity of risk, the reader is left with a best-case scenario that vaping is probably just as bad as smoking. Outrageously, WHO continues to defy science and totally ignore the experiences of consumers worldwide,” she says.

For anyone left wondering after reading WHO’s questions and answers on e-cigarettes, CAPHRA is now compiling a comprehensive dossier of references from medical doctors, researchers and government-funded agencies. All of these will categorically refute the claims made by WHO in its guidance.

CAPHRA says while WHO continues to dig in on its unjustifiable anti-vaping position, internationalFCTC ( Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) delegates have an opportunity next year to ensure public health guidance on vaping finally reflects the reality: It’s saving smokers’ lives as an effective and harm reduced smoking cessation tool.

Panama is set to host WHO’s 10th FCTC Conference of Parties (COP10) in 2023, which will seedelegates having discussions and making recommendations on safer nicotine products.

“About 70 countries have already ignored WHO’s anti-vaping crusade and regulated vaping. Countries at next year’s COP10 need to fully understand that millions of smokers’ lives will depend on their discussions and decisions. It’s well overdue for WHO to follow the evidence, rather than winding up baseless and constant hysteria,” says Nancy Loucas.

Boasting over 15,000 testimonials, CAPHRA is calling on those who’ve quit cigarettes through smoke-free nicotine alternatives to tell their story onwww.righttovape.org

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images and graphics – please visit https://apthrmedia.org

“We salute his bravery at COP9 for promoting the Philippines’ balanced and evidence-based approach to safer nicotine products,” says Peter Dator, president of consumer group Vapers PH and CAPHRA member. “Opponents and officials have since done their best to discredit Secretary Locsin and disrespect our country’s democracy and sovereignty, but they have failed badly.”

Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates), says it’s pleasing to see top Filipino politicians rally around Secretary Locsin, with the global vaping community also voicing its strong support via social media.

“In a world where smoking causes eight million deaths every year, Secretary Locsin has done everyone a huge favour. Telling COP9 about the success of ‘far less harmful novel tobacco products’ and the Philippine Government’s political support for them was music to the ears of the millions who’ve successful quit deadly cigarettes, via vaping,” she says.

During COP9 – the 9th Conference of Parties for the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – Ms Loucas organised a global livestream, featuring world-leading THR experts and consumer advocates.

Dubbed sCOPe, the five-day YouTube simulcast attracted a significant audience globally, adding to the increasing pressure on the WHO to embrace safer nicotine products, rather than pushing to ban them.

“How can we trust the WHO and the FCTC when they are afraid of science? In this age of fake news and alternative facts, it is important for governments to take a stand for the facts and know how to sift through the propaganda. This is what Secretary Locsin did at COP9, and I join the Philippine Cabinet and Congress in commending his actions,” says Mr Dator.

To view Mr Dator’s message to COP9 delegates visit: https://youtu.be/g0pYPmRXxM8

Secretary Locsin’s speech at COP9 and other key moments will be analysed during a post-sCOPe wrap-up and discussion. sCOPe’s COP9 awards will also announced. It will be broadcast at https://bit.ly/30v701b from 6pm (Hong Kong Time) or 10am (GMT) on Wednesday, 17 November.

CAPHRA is calling on those who’ve quit cigarettes through smoke-free nicotine alternatives to tell their story on www.righttovape.org, and add to the more than 14,000 testimonials available.

For a free digital media repository on tobacco harm reduction in Asia Pacific – including media releases, images and graphics – please visit

Dubbed sCOPe, the YouTube simulcast will focus on COP9, the 9th Conference of Parties for the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Despite being shut out of COP9, vapers have vowed they will not be silenced.

Featuring world-leading Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) experts and consumer advocates, sCOPe will challenge COP9 and scrutinize who’s influencing the WHO’s efforts to demonize safer alternatives, and why.

sCOPe will be simulcast on YouTube at https://bit.ly/3aWBPxi and on Facebook from 12.00pm Hong Kong Time / 4.00am GMT on Monday, 8 November until midnight (HKT) Friday, 12 November.

Monday’s schedule (HKT):

12.00pm – CAPHRA What is Tobacco Harm Reduction – Short Film (English)

1.00pm – CAPHRA Panel Discussion – Colin Mendelsohn, MD, Expert (English)

4.00pm – ECST ENDS Cigarette Smoking Thailand Discussion (Thai)

5.00pm – COREISS Marewa Glover, PhD Presentation (English)

6.00pm – Vapers PH Philippines Discussion (Filipino)

9.00pm – MOVE/HRA MOVE (Malaysia) Discussion (Bahasa)

11.00pm – INNCO Panel with Jeff Zamora – (English)

sCOPe organiser, Nancy Loucas:

“For five days and nights, our global livestream will prove that the WHO’s position against safer nicotine products is untenable. Every adult has the right to choose safer options. It’s now time for COP9 delegates to stand up and speak out,” she says.

Samsul Kamal Ariffin, President of MOVE (Malaysian Organization of Vape Entities), and sCOPe panellist:

“As an ex-smoker, vaping has improved my health and arguably saved my life, yet outrageously, the WHO continues to pressure countries to ban it,” he says.

The calls come as a significant round-the-clock global broadcasting event has been announced to take place during COP9. Dubbed ‘sCOPe’, the five-day livestream will see THR experts and consumers, from around the world, challenge and scrutinise the key conference.

The Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) starts on Monday, 8 November. Involving 182 parties, or countries, it will be held online and behind closed doors.

Now, an open letter from 100 global experts slamming the WHO’s misguided and unscientific anti-vaping stance is receiving considerable international media coverage and commentary.

In the letter, addressed to the FCTC member countries’ heads of delegation, the nicotine science and policy experts criticise the WHO for stubbornly ‘rejecting a public health strategy that could avoid millions of smoking-related deaths.’ Making six recommendations, they call on the FCTC to ‘modernise’ its approach to tobacco policy.

“The world’s leading THR experts will not be silenced, nor will consumers. That’s why sCOPe will broadcast the whole time COP9 is on. It’s long overdue for delegates to stand up to the WHO’s outrageously arrogant attitude and blatantly wrong advice towards safer nicotine products. sCOPe will prove that it’s money, not science, that’s driving the WHO’s anti-vape crusade,” says Nancy Loucas, sCOPe event organiser.

To be simulcast on YouTube and Facebook, sCOPe is a cooperative effort by THR consumer organisations globally. Totally excluded from COP9 despite being the main stakeholders, vapers and other safer nicotine consumers are being called to promote and mobilise around sCOPe.

“The 100 global THR experts are right to blast the WHO for being completely dismissive of the potential to transform the tobacco market from high-risk to low-risk products. As well as that open letter adding to the precariousness of the WHO’s increasingly untenable position, we’re seeing the drums beating louder for those countries supportive of vaping to sing their successes at COP9,” says Ms Loucas.

Following New Zealand legalising and regulating vaping last year, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union (NZTU) is now calling on Ministry of Health delegates to use COP9 to promote the country’s THR strategy which has helped achieve record-low smoking rates. NZTU is also pressuring Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall to support the formation of an inter-sessional working group to examine evidence on vaping as a harm reduction tool at COP9.

Meanwhile, The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) has announced an ‘Everyone Deserves Harm Reduction Rally’ at London’s Parliament Square at 10am on 8 November. INNCO praises the UK government for its ‘valiant support for safer nicotine alternatives that save lives’. Its well-timed rally, however, is aimed at alerting the public to COP9 and to encourage the UK government and others to play a pivotal role.

Ms Loucas says the growing stress on November’s COP9 also includes some massive news just out of the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates medical products in the US, approved an e-cigarette for sale for the first time. Authorising the marketing of three products, the FDA concluded that the benefit to adults trying to quit smoking outweighs the risk of teenagers becoming hooked.

“We’re witnessing loudening calls from global experts and organisations. We’ve seen the FDA just announce an historic e-cigarette approval, and now consumers from around the world are coming together to broadcast a significant livestream event to counter COP9.

“Yet, despite all this pressure, the WHO will continue to totally undermine vaping. Not to be silenced, sCOPe will join many others from across the globe demanding delegates at COP9 stand up for science. Every adult has the right to be fully informed and have access to safer nicotine options,” says Nancy Loucas.

sCOPe will be simulcast on YouTube at https://bit.ly/3aWBPxi

About sCOPe

sCOPe is a round-the-clock international broadcasting event taking place throughout COP9. The five-day livestream, from 8 to 12 November, will feature world-leading THR experts and consumer advocates for safer nicotine products. sCOPe will be simulcast on YouTube and Facebook. Despite being shut out of COP9, vapers have vowed they will not be silenced.