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FEATURES
GLOBAL FORUM
ON NICOTINE GOES
ONLINE FOR 2020
The conference united health care professionals, vaping
advocates, scientists and business organisations
across the world.
Words: Caroline Barry
The annual Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) has gone online to
host a number of talks from health experts and scientists on
public health, vaping and tobacco control.
The conference normally takes place in Warsaw, Poland, but this
year organisers chose to hold the event online due to the ongoing
coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
The event examined the need for the 1.1 billion smokers to
gain easier access to safer, regulated nicotine products such
as e-cigarettes, snus and other products which offer a better
alternative to smoking. It is the only international conference
focused on reduced risk nicotine products and their role in
reducing smoking-related harm.
The conference has trebled in size since it began in 2014 with 200
attendees from 26 countries. The event recorded 600 attendees
in 2019 representing 70 countries.
During the online event, discussions included a number of vapefocused
talks from professionals and included topics such as the
misattribution of the EVALI lung crisis to nicotine vaping instead
of illicit THC. There was also a focus on the moral panic of low
youth vaping rates taking priority over the health of a million adult
smokers.
Organisers hoped to bring together the many professionals who
work in the unique area of nicotine harm reduction by encouraging
the participation of consumer advocacy organisations alongside
manufacturers and scientists. They felt the groups were often
excluded from other international meetings and events despite
playing a critical role in informing and shaping debates concerning
safer nicotine products and tobacco harm reduction.
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