MPs urge Britain to challenge WHO’s vaping stance

A cross-party group of parliamentarians have asked the government to challenge the World Health Organization’s (WHO) opposition to vaping at the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP) of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The call follows a four-month inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Vaping, partly prompted by the WHO encouraging and applauding bans on vaping.

In a report released last week, the APPG has urged the government to make the most of Brexit as the UK delegation is no longer bound to a common European position on tobacco and nicotine policy.

The COP9 meeting, which would take place in November, would be one of the first opportunities for the UK to take a stand at a UN forum.

“There is no doubt that the WHO has developed a negative stance in relation to vaping over recent years. We wanted to evaluate whether it remained fit for purpose in an evolved landscape where new technology has enabled new harm reduction strategies,” Mark Pawsey MP, chair of the APPG for Vaping, said.

Pawsey added that the UK, one of the WHO’s largest state donors, should review its funding to the UN agency.

“One of the founding pillars of the Treaty the UK signed up to nearly 20 years ago was that of harm reduction. If the WHO are opposed to adhering to this and continue to pursue an agenda-driven approach to ban less harmful alternatives to smoking, then the UK should consider dramatically scaling back our funding,” he said.

The main recommendations from the report include:

• Ensuring the WHO returns to the founding principle of the Treaty which includes harm reduction.
• Restricting any decision to ban vaping and other reduced risk alternatives to smoking.
• Sending experts and consumers to sit alongside the Department of Health & Social Care officials at the multilateral event.
• Establishing a Working Group to look at the science and evidence for new and emerging products.
• Ensuring openness and transparency instead of secretive decision making.

The MPs called for coalitions to be built with like-minded countries that have embraced tobacco harm reduction at the COP9 meeting, encouraging the UK government to stand firm in defending the strong domestic position, even if the WHO continues with its prohibitionist approach.

They called for the delegation of Departmental of Health officials, diplomats and activists usually sent to these events to be strengthened with experts who have real world experience, and even former smokers who can attest to the benefits of vaping and other reduced risk products.

“At the FCTC COP9 the UK has a unique opportunity to champion its progressive, successful and evidence-based, domestic policies on the global stage. We are a world leader in tobacco harm reduction, and we call on the government to defend the UK approach, challenge the WHO to stub out their ban on vaping, and help return the FCTC to its founding pillar of harm reduction,” Pawsey said.

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has applauded the APPG report, saying the MPs have done a great job in standing up to the WHO.

“It is crucial that the vaping sector, and former smokers turned vapers, speak with one voice to put pressure on the WHO to change its ways. As the body which is meant to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable, the WHO has a moral responsibility to do the right thing,” John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA said.

“It’s about time that the vaping industry stood up against the WHO and the APPG on Vaping has done a great job of doing so, challenging the organisation to change its approach to harm reduction and calling upon government to consider a reduction in funding if they continue in the same vein by taking a prohibitionist stance.”