Tobacco Asia

Tobacco Asia 27 www.nicotineusp.com sales@nicotineusp.com NICOTINE IN ITS PUREST FORM by and classification" of said products for COP9 are supposed to be presented in COP10. But, it could be surmised that the general direction of the discussion will most likely not be favor- able to those reduced risk products. A recent FCTC report on "regulation of contents and dis- closure of tobacco products, including waterpipe, smokeless to- bacco, and heated tobacco products" (emphasis ours) dismisses vaping as a method of quitting smoking because there is "low" or "insufficient" evidence to support it. A report on WHO FCTC Eastern Mediterranean regional meeting in March not only said "there is a need to regulate novel and emerging to- bacco products by applying traditional tobacco control mea- sures" but also that governments should "strengthen tobacco product legislation by regularly updating laws to include novel and emerging products." Even more, there seems to be little chance that new tobacco products will be getting fair representation at COP10, too, as the working group which was tasked with gathering scientific evidence on these products will not be doing so. This working group was suspended at COP8 in 2018 and remained suspended during COP9 because of the pandemic. In 2020 the COP9 Bu- reau surveyed member countries, 60% of which indicated they wanted the working group to resume its work. In 2021 member countries were surveyed again; 49 responded with the majority wanting the working group to be reactivated, and the minority wanting the group to be replaced by an "advisory group of ex- perts and relevant partners" invited by FCTC Secretariat. Some- how, however, the Bureau interpreted these results as showing Refusing to hear, speak, or see anything that does not follow FCTC's anti-tobacco agenda is a likely requirement for COP10 delegates.

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