NEWS
finally non tobacco containing nicotine
products like e-cigarettes and even
medically licensed Nicotine Replacement
Therapies. Again like decaf drinks,
let’s not discount the growing segment
of non-nicotine e-liquids being used by
thousands of vapers across the
globe today.
Imagine how the early Turks or Pasqua
Rosee would feel about what has been
achieved with the simple coffee bean,
and what would Sir Walter think if he
could see a modern day vapour product?
Could he even conceive of the science
and innovation behind these products or
the collaborative efforts needed to get
to where we are today? The tobacco
industry has decades of scientific
expertise, but these new categories
require additional expertise, additional
skills and additional experience and they
can only get these through collaboration.
Therefore, it was extremely disappointing
that in September this year, a number
of scientists received an unsigned letter
urging them not to attend an annual
industry conference that covers science
issues and warned that attending
might be ‘not only detrimental to your
reputation but also to the notoriety of
your affiliated association or institution.’
The conference, the Global Tobacco and
Nicotine Forum (GTNF), is an annual
event (held in September in Brussels
this year) that aspires to bring together
all the players in the nicotine field from
big tobacco to small e-cig companies,
academics, investors, regulators,
consumers; under the banner of science.
The objective being to tackle the main
scientific questions and challenges
posed in the tobacco and nicotine
product industries today, questions that
require a multidisciplinary community
to answer.
We, the industry, know we don’t have
all the answers! We are dependent
on collaborations from academia, other
industry and public health to help us.
The Letter (unsigned) was sent to
participating researchers by Campaign
for Tobacco-Free Kids, a major antismoking advocacy group in the U.S.,
and the European Network for Smoking
and Tobacco Prevention, based in
Brussels, Belgium.
One of the scientists present at the
conference, Prof Neil McKeganey
(from the Centre of Substance use
research, CSUR, Glasgow, UK) said
the signatories of the aforementioned
letter may believe that they are serving
the interests of tobacco control, but
dissuading academics from attending
events like this would simply have the
effect of creating another generation of
public health academics with little or no
idea of what is going on in the industry.
Furthermore, he pointed out, there are
few if any of society’s problems that
have been solved by ignoring those
you disagree with, as many do with the
tobacco industry. ‘Far from avoiding
interaction with the industry, critical
scrutiny of the industry’s products
and research needs to be the core of
academics’ relationships with
the industry’.
CONCLUSION
The opportunity for one of the greatest
public health advances is in our midst –
the e-cigarette. Everyone