The Global Forum on Nicotine is launching GFN•TV to broadcast nicotine science, policy, news and updates throughout the year. GFN•TV is seen as “a natural next step” after in-person, online and hybrid conference successes.
The news programme launches 3 March and GFN•TV will broadcast live from #GFN22 in Poland in June.
GFN, which has taken place in June every year since 2014, is the only international conference to focus on the role of safer nicotine products in helping people switch away from smoking. Hosting world-leading experts, nicotine consumers and advocates, GFN addresses the scientific, regulatory and policy issues related to safer nicotine products and their crucial role in tobacco harm reduction.
Following principles adopted first in the battle against HIV/AIDS and risky substance use, a harm reduction approach for tobacco includes encouraging people to switch away from deadly combustible tobacco to consume nicotine in safer ways, including the use of vapes, nicotine pouches, Swedish snus and heated tobacco products.
As preparations continue for the ninth edition of the conference in Warsaw from June 16 – 18 2022, themed Tobacco harm reduction: here for good, GFN•TV will bring the conference’s rational and inclusive debate to the GFN audience and beyond throughout the year.
Launching with a regular news series at https://gfn.tv/, GFN News will premiere on Thursday 3 March at 12:00pm CET / 11:00am GMT. In June, GFN•TV will go on to deliver live commentary from #GFN22 itself.
The first edition of GFN News will be hosted by Joanna Junak, and is set to feature nicotine science, policy and regulatory news and updates from around the world, with commentary from Will Godfrey and Alex Norcia of Filter magazine, plus an interview with Annie Kleykamp of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
The programme will also feature the first of a regular interview series in collaboration with Brent Stafford and RegWatch. GFN•TV is delighted to be partnering with RegWatch, which has a long pedigree of high-quality online content relating to tobacco harm reduction.
The first GFN•TV/RegWatch interview is with one of #GFN22’s keynote speakers, Dr Mark Tyndall, the recently retired Deputy Director of the Centre for Disease Control in British Columbia, Canada. Brent will discuss with Dr Tyndall how vaping and its role in smoking cessation intersects with his own long commitment to harm reduction for substance use, in a career that has included establishing InSite, North America’s first supervised injecting room, among many other achievements.
In 2014, the first GFN conference in Warsaw welcomed 200 delegates from 26 countries; the most recent in-person event in 2019 attracted over 600 delegates from more than 80 countries to the Polish capital. When COVID forced GFN to switch wholly online in 2020, thousands of viewers joined from 96 nations. As restrictions eased in 2021, the organisers switched to a hybrid format, with an in-person event in Liverpool, UK, enabling people to meet and network while proceedings were broadcast to a global audience online.
Speaking about the decision to launch GFN•TV, Executive Producer Paddy Costall said it felt like a natural next step.
“The audience for GFN has been growing year on year, as has the international interest in the issues around tobacco harm reduction,” he said. “When the pandemic struck, we took the conference online and reached thousands of viewers worldwide, many of whom had never been able to get to the event in person.”
Paddy continued: “With GFN•TV, we’ll be challenging some of the poor science and misleading narratives that are common in this field, while highlighting ways in which tobacco harm reduction is already making a significant difference to the lives of millions of people.
“At GFN in June, and in our year-round broadcasts on GFN•TV, we’ll continue giving voice to a thriving international community who are committed to ending combustible tobacco use, following harm reduction principles and leaving no one behind.”
Watch GFN News online from Thursday 3 March 12:00pm CET / 11:00am GMT at https://gfn.tv
Registration for conference delegates is open now and special accommodation rates at the Warsaw Marriott are available until 13 May 2022. The full conference programme will be published later in March.
Dave Cross – Planet of the Vapes – 2022-03-02.
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