Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates Sign ‘The Manila Declaration 2022’

Leading Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) advocates from across the globe have joined forces in signing ‘The Manila Declaration 2022’.

Diane Caruana

November 15, 2022

Released after the Fifth Asia Harm Reduction Forum (AHRF 2022) on 28th October, the Manila Declaration aims to provide information and evidence which has been excluded from any guidance provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) to signatories and delegates of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on safer nicotine products. Moreover it highlights that vapers continue to be marginalised, ignored, and attacked for their choices, despite the science backing the use of vapes for smoking cessation.

“An individual’s right to health is recognised as a fundamental human right; Smoking causes the vast majority of tobacco-related death and disease; Vaping is dramatically safer than cigarettes and has helped millions quit smoking; Harm reduction is at the core of international treaty obligations; Bans serve only to protect the cigarette industry; and that public health and governments’ credibility is at stake,” states the declaration.

The document highlights the ridiculousness of allowing cigarettes on the market whilst banning their safer alternatives. It highlights that it is criminal to allow a product that is known to kill people with certainty to be sold liberally on the free market, and ban or restrict safer alternatives for adults who smoke.

WHO’s FCTC COP10

The next WHO’s FCTC Conference of Parties – COP10, a key global tobacco control meeting where delegates make recommendations on safer nicotine products, will be held in Panama in November 2023. Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates) Nancy Loucas, said that now that Asia seems to be more open to the idea of tobacco harm reduction, the pressure will be more intense.

“Advocates are more determined than ever to ensure the proven THR approach to tobacco control is adopted by more countries. The Philippines has recently lifted its vaping ban and other Asian countries are set to follow, but we’ve got to keep the pressure on. Cigarettes cannot win,” she says.