Global Health Experts Challenge WHO's Tobacco Approach
More than forty international specialists in medicine, pharmacology, psychology and public health have issued a strong appeal to the World Health Organization, urging a fundamental shift in global tobacco control strategy. The experts argue that current WHO policies fail to incorporate crucial scientific evidence about harm reduction approaches.
This collective statement was released through The Counterfactual's "Expert Wall" platform and specifically targets both the WHO and the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Their message is directed toward delegates who participated in the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) held in Geneva from November 17 to 22, 2025.
The Case for Harm Reduction
The expert coalition contends that the WHO's current abstinence-only position ignores mainstream research on risk continuum, misleads the public, and unintentionally strengthens the traditional cigarette market. Instead, they advocate for:
- Risk-proportionate regulation
- Open scientific dialogue
- A practical focus on ending smoking rather than nicotine use
Dr. Robert West of University College London emphasized that "policies that accurately reflect the epidemiological evidence on the harms of different types of tobacco and nicotine products" are essential for reducing tobacco-related death and disease.
Urgent Need for Policy Update
Dr. David Nutt from Imperial College London highlighted the critical nature of this policy shift, noting that "smoking causes a massive burden of death and disease worldwide, killing about 8 million people annually." He pointed to vaping and other smoke-free alternatives as tools that "can dramatically cut the risks for people who cannot or do not want to quit using nicotine."
Former WHO NCD Surveillance director Dr. Ruth Bonita declared that smoke-free alternatives are crucial for ending the global smoking epidemic. She cited independent evidence, including real-world data from New Zealand, showing that regulated, reduced-harm smoke-free nicotine products can accelerate declines in smoking and prevent disease.
Dr. Ann McNeill of King's College London called on the WHO to uphold its principles by "engaging openly with all credible scientists, not just those who echo an ideological line."
Polish Society of Public Health president Dr. Andrzej Fal warned that a "purist line" targeting all nicotine use distracts from life-saving objectives. "As a pragmatist and practitioner, I believe we should prioritize reducing disease and death, and that means we should focus on reducing smoking in any way we can," he stated.
Dr. Neal Benowitz of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital reinforced that non-combusted nicotine products play a vital role in smoking cessation. He emphasized that the FCTC's focus "should be to promote the elimination of cigarettes and other smoking products" and that regulating nicotine itself "is a far less compelling goal and should not distract from efforts to end smoking."
