Tag: nicotine regulation

Africa Cannot Afford Another Year of Delay: The Case for Embracing Safer Nicotine Alternatives

Healthtimes

By Joseph Magero, Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA) As another year ends, it’s important to reflect on Africa’s position in the global fight against smoking-related diseases. Unfortunately, the familiar pattern continues: while the rest of the world adopts modern harm reduction strategies, Africa remains significantly behind, stuck in outdated methods that don’t address current public health needs. Across Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, safer nicotine alternatives such as nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and snus have been widely available for years. Their effectiveness in helping smokers reduce…

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Do as I Say, Not What’s Best: The Perils of Philanthro-Colonialism at COP11

Michael Gwarisa

By Own Correspondent  As the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) concluded last week, experts on the sidelines raised concerns about the misuse of Article 5.3, which has increasingly hindered engagement with diverse stakeholders. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) restrictive interpretation of this article has effectively limited meaningful dialogue between governments and non-state actors, including researchers, harm reduction advocates and industry representatives. Experts argue that this approach stifles evidence-based policymaking, prevents countries from exploring safer alternatives and reinforces a one-size-fits-all prohibitionist…

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The Right to Know: Why Access to Tobacco Harm Reduction Information Is a Matter of Human Rights

Healthtimes

By HealthTimes When forty-seven-year-old Idai Moyo from Harare finally managed to quit smoking after two decades, it wasn’t because she suddenly found the willpower that had eluded her for years. It was because she discovered something she hadn’t known existed — a smoke-free nicotine alternative that allowed her to move away from cigarettes gradually, without withdrawal or shame. No one told me,” she said. “If I’d known earlier, I would have stopped long ago.” Her words capture a moral dilemma at the heart of global tobacco control: why are millions…

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Oncologists Should Lead the Tobacco Harm Reduction Discourse

Healthtimes
Nicotine Isn’t the Enemy: World Expert Corrects a Century of Misconception

By Munyaradzi Blessing Doma A leading French oncologist has called on cancer specialists worldwide to take an active role in Tobacco Harm Reduction and help correct misconceptions about nicotine and its link to cancer. Speaking on the sidelines of the 2025 Technovation Summit in Dubai, Professor David Khayat, an oncologist at Pierre et Marie University in Paris, said oncologists have a duty to promote science-based communication around smoking and nicotine use. We as oncologists have to trust science, and science says nicotine does not cause cancer, so let’s stick to…

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