{"id":8848,"date":"2025-11-18T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T20:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/?p=8848"},"modified":"2025-11-19T08:16:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T07:16:02","slug":"cop11-why-harm-reduction-science-is-a-battlefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/cop11-why-harm-reduction-science-is-a-battlefield\/","title":{"rendered":"COP11: Why harm reduction science is a battlefield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>As COP11 delegates huddled behind closed doors in Geneva, a panel of researchers gathered nearby to examine the politicization of tobacco harm reduction science and its consequences for public health.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Titled \u201cThe Battle Over Science\u201d and chaired by Haypp Group Senior Director of Scientific Affairs Dr. Marina Murphy, the panel brought together global experts in medicine, public health, and toxicology to expose how the war on nicotine is undermining both trust in science and the future of smoking cessation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The panel was organised by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) as part of the group\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.protectingtaxpayers.org\/cop11\/\">Conference of the People (Good COP)<\/a>\u201d to give a voice to experts and consumers interested in discussing tobacco harm reduction who are often prevented from participating in official COP proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe rarely hear discussion about cigarettes; it\u2019s pretty much all about nicotine, \u201d said Murphy in her opening remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She went on to accuse the World Health Organisation (WHO) and anti-tobacco advocates of only being interested in science that supports that position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe question is whether the WHO has wandered outside the realm of science in its narrative around nicotine,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Why don\u2019t people just stop?\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Mark Tyndall, a Professor of Medicine at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia who worked on harm reduction during the HIV epidemic, sees a number of alarming parallels with the current discussion around tobacco harm reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat there was a discussion in the middle of an epidemic about whether it was good to give people condoms is crazy in retrospect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet today, he saw parallels to that time when people are now asking why smokers should be able to consume nicotine via less harmful products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s the return of abstinence thinking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese people don\u2019t care if it&#8217;s 50 percent safer or 99 percent safer. That\u2019s not their point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s really about trying to get people to stop using any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Science ignored, risks distorted<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Roberto Sussman, a senior researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), discussed the dangers of combustion in cigarettes compared to vaping and heat-not-burn products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For him, the science is clear about the relative safety of alternative nicotine products compared to cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnyone denying the relative safety of non-combustible products is denying science. It\u2019s the equivalent of anti-vaxxers or flat-earthers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He felt it was \u201cvery disappointing\u201d that so many institutions adhere to what he termed \u201cpseudoscience\u201d that exaggerates the risks of vapes and heated tobacco products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe presence of smoke is what causes disease,\u201d he said. And tests of e-cigarette vapors versus cigarette smoke make the difference clear.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA chromatogram doesn\u2019t lie,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Public health without accountability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, a cardiologist and researcher fellow at the University of Patras in Greece, argued that the global tobacco harm reduction debate has become \u201cpolitical and emotional rather than a science-based discussion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the evidence for alternative nicotine products in reducing harm is \u201cundisputable\u201d, noting that countries endorsing such measures have successfully lowered smoking rates, while those banning them have seen progress stagnate or be reversed by black markets.<br><br>\u201cAnyone who attempts to present it as a scientific debate is simply ignoring science,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attempts by the WHO to \u201cshift the goalposts\u201d, as Murphy put it, but changing definitions is, according to Farsalinos, \u201cpolitics infiltrating science\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proliferation of sub-standard, ideologically driven science &#8211; and a refusal by those researchers to accept new evidence \u2013 has impacted people\u2019s perceptions of harm reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c\u200b\u200bThere is a deviation between what the science is saying and what people believe about harm reduction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018We don\u2019t live in a perfect world\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, University Lecturer at the National University of Malaysia, grounded the discussion in pragmatism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA nicotine-free world is an idealistic view,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t live in a perfect world, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She listed countries like Japan, New Zealand, and the UK, all of which have adopted a harm reduction approach to varying degrees, resulting in a shift away from cigarettes to safer alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ezat Wan Puteh also highlighted the importance of <a href=\"https:\/\/snusforumet.se\/en\/cochrane-moves-toward-seeing-nicotine-pouches-as-a-smoking-cessation-aid\/\">recent reviews by the Cochrane Library<\/a> looking at the viability of alternative nicotine products as smoking cessation tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHarm reduction saves lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe should invest in it, especially for smokers who can\u2019t quit using traditional methods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As COP11 delegates huddled behind closed doors in Geneva, a panel of researchers gathered nearby to examine the politicization of tobacco harm reduction science and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[313,22],"tags":[616,251,623,626,621,345,622,624,625,331],"class_list":["post-8848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-science","tag-cop11","tag-harm-reduction-2","tag-konstantinos-farsalinos","tag-marina-murphy","tag-mark-tyndall","tag-public-health","tag-roberto-sussman","tag-sharifa-ezat-wan-puteh","tag-taxpayers-protection-alliance","tag-who-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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