The WHO’s COP10 Delayed Until 2024

In mid-November, the World Health Organization (WHO) postponed its 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was due to take place in Panama. The FCTC is a global treaty dedicated to reducing the harms related to combustible cigarettes. But, in recent years, the FCTC has opposed the use of tobacco harm reduction alternatives. The role of tobacco harm reduction products (and their usage) was going to be the central focus of the COP10 meeting scheduled for November. 

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has long advocated for both information and access to safer alternatives to smoking – including novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco devices. Despite constant media misinformation, e-cigarettes (and other novel products) are truly a consumer-driven revolution that have led to significant decreases in smoking rates.

While the FCTC claims to want to reduce the number of adults smoking in the world – the treaty continues to be resistant towards tobacco harm reduction products, often ignoring the science and the consumers of these products.

To counter the anti-harm reduction narrative from the WHO, TPA planned a counter-conference to take place in Panama during COP10. The conference was going to be a Conference of the People (aka Good COP versus WHO’s Bad COP) TPA had commitments from more than two dozen experts from 15 different countries including consumer advocates, scientists, and the policy people working to advance alternatives to smoking. Unfortunately, due the WHO postponing the WHO conference, TPA put Good COP on hold.

Moving in to 2024, TPA hopes to continue advancing the science and consumer voices behind alternatives to smoking and planning a postponed Good COP.

You can find more information about COP10 and Good COP in a live interview TPA’s Consumer Center participated in with Regulator Watch.