The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has sharply criticized the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat after COP11, accusing it of letting what CAPHRA calls “Bloomberg-funded prohibitionist NGOs to dominate the policy agenda.” In a statement, the group said the Secretariat’s actions were underscored by the “Dirty Ashtray Award” given to New Zealand, which CAPHRA described as evidence of a process that shames countries for not following an ideological, prohibition-driven line instead of judging them on evidence-based public health outcomes.

CAPHRA pointed out that New Zealand already has one of the world’s lowest smoking rates, at 6.8%, and credited the country’s harm-reduction framework with steep declines in youth vaping and minimal youth smoking. The group noted that New Zealand has also strengthened penalties for youth access violations, yet was targeted at COP11 while countries with much higher smoking rates received positive recognition.

Delegations from Canada, Sweden, and Germany, among others, reportedly sided with calls for more transparency, greater consumer input, and reliance on independent science — signals, CAPHRA said, of widening divisions within the treaty process over how tobacco policy should be set.

CAPHRA executive coordinator Nancy Loucas condemned the Secretariat’s approach, arguing that evidence-based harm-reduction advocates are being unfairly portrayed as aligned with industry. CAPHRA is urging the FCTC to return to its mandate, saying that countries must retain the freedom to craft policies that fit their own public-health contexts.

Source: CAPHRA

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