Tobacco Asia

26 tobaccoasia Issue 6, 2025 November / December By Stefanie Rossel During November 17-22, Geneva will host the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The event, marking the global treaty's 20th anniversary, should be a celebration of progress in the fight against tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases. Yet there is little to celebrate: in the 20 years since FCTC entered into force, the global number of smokers has declined by only about 100 million, while some 1.2 billion people still smoke. Given WHO's fierce anti–tobacco harm reduction stance and its commitment to a danger- ous status quo, there is no indication that this will change soon. In many respects, COP11 will resemble its predecessors: the event is expected to be opaque and secretive, excluding media, public observers, consumer advocacy groups—and, of course, industry representatives—from plenaries and side events. (Parties with state-owned tobacco companies will still be allowed at the table, though.) Only a few general sessions, such as the opening plenary and the announcement of the next COP's date and venue, will be webcast. On June 17, WHO released the provisional agenda for COP11, drawn up by the Conven- tion Secretariat to guide discussions. It offers little hope that WHO will finally endorse tobacco harm reduction (THR)—quite the opposite. Two agenda items stand out: under "Treaty instru- ments and technical matters," item 4.1 covers "forward-looking tobacco control measures" (in relation to Article 2.1 of the FCTC), based on a report by the Expert Group; item 4.5 addresses the implementation of measures to prevent and reduce tobacco consumption, nicotine addic- tion, and exposure to tobacco smoke, and to protect such measures from "commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in light of the tobacco industry's narrative on 'harm reduction'" (Articles 5.2(b) and 5.3 of FCTC). At COP11, WHO is expected to officially broaden FCTC to non-combustible nicotine products. The Final Battle in Tobacco Control WHO's FCTC is still set on its mission to stop people from being able to choose to smoke cigarettes. This now seems to extend to reduced risk products as well. Credit: Lindsay Fox, CC2.0. "Each company went its own way—PMI doing one thing, BAT another, consumer groups doing theirs… And that's exactly what tobacco control has exploited." —Jeannie Cameron, JCIC

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