The Asia Pacific Association for Control of Tobacco (APACT) conference has taken the step to ban any tobacco harm reduction advocate or vape consumer who has previously spoken at either the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) or the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF). The ridiculous situation will come as bad news for Mitch Zeller, Director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Tobacco Products Center, as he spoke at GTFN in 2020.
The APACT ban isn’t the first-time advocates or consumers have been singled out for exclusion. In 2018, consumers were ejected from viewing the proceedings at the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework for Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties (COP8).
“Tobacco giants are adopting new ways and ‘disguises’ to push their products,” stated a summary of COP9 published on the United Nations website. The products, it said, are “noxious both for people and the environment, and interfere with government efforts to regulate the sale and use of tobacco.”
The article painted vape advocates as extensions of the tobacco industry and called the harm reduction volunteers “vicious”.
Dave Cross – Planet of the Vapes – 2021-07-01.
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