An opinion piece published today (November 19) in The Kingston Whig Standard sees economics professor Ian Irvine sharply criticizing the World Health Organization’s COP11 for what he calls “nicotine authoritarianism” — and for pushing an 800% budget increase to fight nicotine use.

Irvine points out that the WHO’s tobacco budget is currently just over $1 billion, much of it donated by philanthropist Michael Bloomberg. “But the WHO has been advertising it really needs $9 billion to do its job properly: eliminate nicotine use,” he writes.

He argues the WHO does not need that money and describes the organization as reactionary on nicotine issues. Irvine says the WHO refuses to acknowledge the potential benefits of so‑called new generation products (NGPs) — e-cigarettes, oral pouches, and heated tobacco products — treating them as if they were as harmful as cigarettes.

The piece contends that the WHO and many advocacy groups wrongly demonize NGPs, even as smoking rates are already falling rapidly in developed countries. Irvine calls for harm‑reduction strategies rather than prohibition, urging policies that enable smokers to switch to lower‑risk alternatives.

Irvine, who has had research funded by Global Action to End Smoking, concludes that empowering adults to choose reduced‑risk products would speed declines in smoking, save lives, and expose the WHO’s restrictive approach as more about preserving bureaucracy than improving public health.

“The challenge for scientists is twofold: speaking up for harm reduction at COP11, even at the risk of verbal bludgeoning by the sinecured interest groups,” Irvine wrote, “and continuing the struggle domestically against a dominant culture policed by self‑appointed moral guardians whose harassment of all forms of nicotine serves primarily to delay more smokers’ transition to low‑toxicity products.

“As smoking declines dramatically … we could start distributing pink slips at the WHO.”

This article was adapted from an original report published on tobaccoreporter.com. All rights belong to the original publisher.