Tag: COP10

  • Postponed COP10 Expected to Prioritize ENDS Rules

    Postponed COP10 Expected to Prioritize ENDS Rules

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The regulation of new and emerging e-cigarette, heated-tobacco and nicotine products will be one of the central topics of discussion at the COP10-MOP3 international tobacco control conferences next year, said Adriana Blanco, head of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), in a virtual press conference on Nov. 14, reported ECigIntelligence.

    Speaking from the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Blanco said that proposals to create more stringent rules and health guidelines to govern new tobacco and nicotine product use will be prioritized at the COP10 (10th Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC) and the MOP3 (third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products), which will now take place in Panama next year.

    Last week, the WHO postponed COP10 to 2024 due to security issues for attendees and no new date has been announced.

  • COP10 Postponed Until 2024, No Date Announced

    COP10 Postponed Until 2024, No Date Announced

    Photo: Maksym Yemelyanov

    The Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Third session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP3) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products have been postponed to 2024.

    “Following communication received from Panama, the host country of the Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control  and the Third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, it is no longer possible to conduct COP10 and MOP3 in November 2023, as scheduled,” the FCTC wrote on its website.

    The sessions are expected to be held in Panama, as early as possible in 2024, at dates to be confirmed.

    The postponement of COP10 and MOP3 is due to the current security situation in Panama, which has been shaken by mass protests about a government contract that allows a Canadian company to expand its copper mining operations there.

    The Convention Secretariat said it will communicate further details in relation to COP10 and MOP3, as soon as available.

  • Activists Plea for Consumer Participation at COP10

    Activists Plea for Consumer Participation at COP10

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Consumer advocates are calling for the next New Zealand government to support greater consumer advocacy participation in the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Panama.  

    “The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control has contributed to some progress in the implementation of tobacco control measures, but they need to provide honest, risk-proportionate communication and regulatory recommendations for Tobacco Harm Reduction [THR] products,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA). 

    “While not perfect, these THR products can be a less harmful alternative to smoking and can help smokers quit. It is critical that smokers have access to accurate information about these products and that regulations are proportionate to their risks,” says Loucas. 

    The WHO FCTC should stop denying smokers, vapers and other tobacco users of their right to have a meaningful participation and inclusion in the formulation of policies that hugely impact them.

    Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator, CAPHRA

    “The WHO FCTC should stop denying smokers, vapers and other tobacco users of their right to have a meaningful participation and inclusion in the formulation of policies that hugely impact them.”  

    CAPHRA is calling on the New Zealand government and next minister of health to ask all member states who will be attending COP10 to reject the prohibitionist proposals contained in COP10 provisional agenda items 6.1 to 6.4 that the organization insists will just further contribute to millions more of unnecessary deaths from smoking. 

    “New Zealand should prioritize science-based inclusive policy making, including at the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It is essential that policy making is based on the best available evidence and that all stakeholders—including consumer advocates are included in the decision-making process,” said Loucas.

  • Knowledge-Action-Change Briefing Explains COP 10

    Knowledge-Action-Change Briefing Explains COP 10

    Gerry Stimson | Photo courtesy of GNF

    Knowledge Action Change (KAC) has published a briefing to help policymakers, health officials and consumers better understand the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The 10th edition of this event, which normally takes place every two years, is scheduled for November in Panama.

    While decisions made at the conference are likely to significantly impact tobacco companies and their customers, industry representatives and organizations advocating for access to safer nicotine products have traditionally been barred from attending the event.

    As a result, tobacco harm reduction has been getting short rift at COP meetings despite the fact that the concept is an integral part of the FCTC.

    “Harm reduction is explicitly named as one of three tobacco control strategies in the opening lines of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but at present, the indications are that COP10 is unlikely to result in any decisions that support consumer access to safer nicotine products,” said KAC Director Gerry Stimson in a statement.

    “Parties to the FCTC must seize the opportunity in Panama to consider evidence from countries where tobacco harm reduction is saving lives, including the U.K., New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Japan—and ask why the WHO and its influential philanthropic funders are refusing to do the same.

    “With no media present, FCTC COP meetings are shrouded in a secrecy more akin to a U.N. Security Council meeting—and in direct contrast to other COP meetings, for example those on climate change. This briefing paper gives policymakers, health officials and consumers more insight into the processes of COP10 and the opportunity to engage more fully prior to and during the event in Panama,” said Stimson

  • COP Delegations Urged to Include Consumer Input

    COP Delegations Urged to Include Consumer Input

    Photo: Oleg

    Country delegations to the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) should include at least one consumer of safer nicotine products, according to the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).

    In a letter to their respective countries’ FCTC delegations, CAPHRA member organizations stressed the importance of listening to consumers. “Consumers are an untapped experience and knowledgebase who are not represented inclusively in the FCTC process,” the letter states. “Delegates to COP10 should be representing the rights and aspirations of the citizens.”

    CAPHRA insists 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, the letter notes.

    CAPHRA Executive Director Nancy Loucas said that exclusion of consumer voices has contributed to misinformation, disinformation and failures of tobacco control policy.

    “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 Loucas.

    COP10 will be held in Panama in November.

  • COP10 Delegates Urged to Consider Harm Reduction

    COP10 Delegates Urged to Consider Harm Reduction

    Photo: lovelyday12

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Advocates’ (CAPHRA) nine member organizations have written to Framework Convention for Tobacco Control delegation heads from around the world, urging them to review the evidence that supports a tobacco harm reduction (THR) approach ahead of COP10.

    With governments sending delegates to COP10 in November 2023, CAPHRA was keen to send leaders comprehensive reference material for their COP10 planning, submission writing and deliberations.

    COP10 will held in Panama and is hosted by the World Health Organization’s FCTC.

    ‘We do this on behalf of the four million current users of safer nicotine products in the wider Asia Pacific region. As you are aware, our region bears the brunt of the harm and death from combustible and unsafe oral tobacco globally,’ said the letter.

    The CAPHRA representatives reminded the health leaders that the FCTC has a mandate to pursue harm reduction as a core tobacco control policy.

    “It has been known for decades that tar and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, cause the death and disease associated with smoking, not nicotine. Research has proven that nicotine, while usually mildly addictive in the same way as caffeine, is not a health issue,” they wrote.  

    The letter also called on delegates to deplore FCTC’s policy to conduct COP10 sessions behind closed doors.

    “Delegates to COP10 should be representing the rights and aspirations of the citizens whose taxes are paying for their attendance, who expect them to speak on their behalf, acknowledge the science underpinning the harm reduction benefits of ENDS, and maintain democratic principles,” they wrote.

    The CAPHRA representatives asked countries to take into account, when making their COP10 submissions, that consumers have the right to make choices that help them avoid adverse health outcomes. What’s more, people who smoke have the right to access less harmful nicotine products as alternatives to smoking.

    The evidence-based documentation was wrapped up in a recently released white paper, titled “The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives,” which was presented by CAPHRA executive co-ordinator Nancy Loucas at the Fifth Asia Harm Reduction Forum.