The latest comments from Jindřich Vobořil, a respected public health and drug policy expert with decades of international experience, describe what many of us have long feared about the direction of the WHO’s tobacco control agenda. His account from inside the COP11 meeting in Geneva exposes a process that has lost sight of science and public health, replacing evidence with ideology.  

Vobořil was shocked by what he experienced: proposals to criminalise legal companies were being seriously discussed, while countries like China (the state owner of the world’s largest tobacco monopoly and a leading exporter of both legal and illegal e-cigarettes) were among those calling for such measures. The hypocrisy is staggering. The same nation profiting from millions of smokers at home is demanding punishment for others abroad.  

Even more disturbing is how selective the WHO process has become. As Vobořil explains, harm reduction and consumer voices were shut out – literally barred at the door – while certain well-funded NGOs with close links to major donor networks were allowed to shape the discussion. Many of these groups are financed by the philanthropic network of Michael Bloomberg, which has heavily influenced global tobacco control for years. The result is a one-sided conversation that ignores evidence in favour of ideology and politics.  

Instead of discussing how less harmful nicotine products could save millions of lives, WHO delegates spent their time repeating long-debunked myths like the “gateway theory.” Meanwhile, the proven results from countries such as Sweden, New Zealand, UK and Japan, where smoking rates and tobacco-related disease have fallen dramatically thanks to harm reduction, were not even mentioned.  

Vobořil makes a crucial point: banning tools that reduce the harms of smoking makes no sense. It endangers lives, protects old interests, and opens the door for black markets. The outcome is predictable: people continue to smoke, illegal sales grow, and trust in international health institutions collapses.  

The World Health Organisation should be guided by evidence, not ideology or funding pressures. Instead of criminalising companies or even worse, consumers, the focus should be on saving lives through innovation, research, and open dialogue. As Vobořil said, what is happening now risks destroying public trust completely. If WHO refuses to change course, it will bear responsibility for millions of preventable deaths.  

It is time to stop pretending that bans, censorship, and closed-door politics protect public health. The future of tobacco control must be built on science and transparency and not on influence and prohibition.