In the interest of public health, the World Health Organization, or WHO, has encouraged signatory states to its global tobacco treaty to prohibit or restrict the use of e-cigarettes and other cutting-edge tobacco products.
The call was made on Tuesday during the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals’ virtual media conference regarding the international tobacco treaty.
The WHO’s worldwide tobacco treaty, according to the National Institutes of Health, is an evidence-based agreement that upholds everyone’s right to the best possible standard of health. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, are battery-operated devices that users use to heat liquid into a vapour that can be breathed.
In an event held in advance of the 10th Conference of Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Panama, Sabina Jacazzi, the Treaty Officer, Legal Affairs, at WHO FCTC, clarified that new and developing products produced by the tobacco industry are classified as tobacco products.
She stated that the COP had made judgments about new and developing tobacco products, such as heated tobacco products, electronic nicotine delivery systems, and non-nicotine delivery systems. The COP had made it clear that heated tobacco products were classified as tobacco products and were therefore governed by the WHO FCTC.
She said, “I very much encourage checking the reports (by WHO and the Convention Secretariat) that will be considered at COP10, available online, in relation to the most recent scientific evidence and policy recommendations on these products.”
Experts from over the globe were also present at the event, including Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Public Participation and Corporate Accountability Africa.
The tobacco industry was using new strategies to trick government authorities and mislead the public, according to Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, who made this revelation during his address despite the fact that the most recent data indicated a global reduction in smoking.