WHO Ignores People Who Smoke During World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10th. This year’s theme is “Mental Health is a Universal Human Right.” Many people may not know that smoking rates are disproportionally high among people with mental health conditions. While the World Health Organization (WHO) is encouraging Member States and partners to accelerate efforts in mental health in a human-rights-based approach, they continue to march towards the prohibition of safer alternatives to smoking.

Tobacco harm reduction (THR) should also be a universal human/consumer right. Helping people with mental illnesses switch to safer alternatives to smoking would improve their quality of life and prolong their lives. The United Kingdom encourages everyone who hasn’t been able to quit smoking to try vaping in their  “swap to stop” campaign. That crusade includes people living with a mental illness.

Earlier this year, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (the WHO’s director-general) stated the organization’s opposition against THR when he said “it is not true” that vaping can be used as a public health harm reduction measure and positioning e-cigarettes as harm reduction “is a trap.”

Meanwhile, organizations in the U.S. are as misguided about THR as the WHO is. The American Lung Association wants the truth about THR hidden from people who smoke. They claim that switching to THR products isn’t quitting smoking. The Truth Initiative mocks depression in a campaign asking people, “why be happy when you can be sad.” None of these things are helpful to someone living with a mental illness.

Estimates show that over 20 percent of people in the U.S. live with a mental illness. But this population smokes about half of all the cigarettes sold each year. Approximately 53 percent of people with schizophrenia, 50 percent of people with depression, and 48 percent of people with bipolar disorder die from smoking-related diseases. People living with a mental illness die (on average) up to 25 years younger than the general population.

But the WHO continues to ignore these people as the public health behemoth continues to hinder adult access to safer alternatives to cigarettes.

In November, the Parties of the anti-smoking contingent of the WHO – the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – will convene their 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) to discuss a litany of policies countries can undertake to reduce the burden of combustible cigarettes. It has been hinted that COP10 will focus on stopping the emergence of tobacco harm reduction products, specifically electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. All of these are remarkably less harmful than combustible cigarettes, yet, governments across the globe continue to follow the WHO’s guidance and have imposed excessive sin taxes on harm reduction products or have outright banned the retail (and regulated) sale of these products.

The WHO continues to disregard both the consumers (often struggling with mental health issues) and the science of tobacco harm reduction by purposefully disallowing these same populations from being present (and represented) when discussing policies affecting access to tobacco harm reduction products.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is hosting a Good COP/Bad COP war room event in Panama to counter what will more than likely be terrible consumer and healthcare policies from the FCTC.

With nearly two dozen experts from over 20 countries to be present, there will be a series of sessions with consumer, science, and policy experts to highlight the differences in tobacco use and policies across the globe, the tobacco harm reduction landscape, and providing real-time responses to the happenings at COP10.

TPA will be livestreaming multiple sessions featuring the experts and COP10 recaps each day, beginning Monday, November 20 to Saturday, November 25. Follow TPA’s social media to learn more and how to participate.