Cigarette makers challenged to develop safer smoking solutions
EXPERTS have urged tobacco manufacturers, including Zimbabwe, to develop safer solutions for people living in poor countries who constitute the majority of smokers to avert health complications that may be caused by smoking.
Speaking during the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum held virtually last week, the experts also implored governments to embark on evidencebased policymaking in order to reduce the number of smokers worldwide.
“I would like to use this platform to request manufacturers to focus on developing safer solutions for people living in (low-to-medium income countries) LMICs, who account for 80% of the world’s tobacco users, and who will benefit the most from risk reduction, given that they have mere means to deal with the consequences of tobacco use,” Indian tobacco harm reduction expert Samrat Chowdhery said.
Tobacco is the main revenue earner for southern African countries such as Zimbabwe and Malawi. The majority of farm workers in the two countries smoke untreated tobacco, which has grave health consequences.
Laura Leigh Oyler, a regulator at a United States company, said nicotine was, by and large, a drug that poor people use primarily in the form of cigarettes and called for policies that purposely marginalise and stigmatise smokers.
The experts noted that although the World Health Organisation has been propagating anti-smoking messages, research has actually shown that few smokers are quitting smoking, or transitioning to e-cigarettes that are nicotine free.
But another tobacco harm reduction expert, James Glassman, said it was possible to get smokers to switch to less harmful practices, and eventually in many cases, to quit tobacco.
“Certainly, new technology is not the only means to ending smoking. Misinformation is as deadly for tobacco as it is for COVID-19. For companies to play an increased role, they must show increased responsibility,” Glassman said.
He said trillions of dollars were wasted to smoking, adding that about 70% of smokers said they wanted to quit, but are unable to do so.
Simon Clark, director for Forest, a smokers lobby group, said a survey of over 600 smokers by the Centre for Substance Use Research in Glasgow, Scotland, found that 95% of respondents gave pleasure as their primary reasons for smoking.
He said 77% expected to smoke for many years, while only 5% envisaged quitting in the near future.
South African doctor Delon Human, who has a history of collaborating with British American Tobacco on tobacco harm reduction, said there was “absolute consensus” that evidence-based policies were the way to go.
Vice-president of Global Scientific Engagement at Philip Morris International (PMI), Gizelle Baker, said successful harm reduction required that adult smokers have access to information and alternative products for them to be able to switch.
PMI, which has been conducting wide research on tobacco harm reduction, has produced a reduced risk tobacco product, the Iqos, that allows for smokeless consumption.
“Well, at PMI, we started doing studies on this ... So let us look at misunderstandings of risk. In this multi-country over 29 000-person survey, we found that over 45% wrongly believed that smoke-free products were equally or more harmful than cigarettes. And actually, when we broke it apart, it was 45% for e-cigarettes, 46% for heated tobacco products; almost 60% misunderstood what causes smoking related disease,” she said.
Another expert, Will Godfrey, said there was need to reduce the harm directly caused by certain forms of drug use as well as that which is caused by bad drug policies.