Despite the hostility faced from established health entities such as the World Health Organization (WHO), industry leaders regard a broader collaboration with scientists as the way forward.

“Should we have policy driven by science and fact that encourages smokers to switch to less harmful products, or do we go down the road of prohibition and high tax that will hamper this change?,” asked Joe Murillo, chief regulatory officer for Juul Labs and chair of the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF 2021) in London. Murillo was quoted by ECigIntelligence as saying that the industry finds itself at “a fork in the road.”

Other experts at GTNF 2021, called for a change of heart within the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), with the aim of improving the trajectory and evolution of the global tobacco industry. Others highlighted the need that member states take a greater interest in the upcoming COP9 to the WHO FCTC, and ensure that those in charge really stick to what the treaty dictates.

In a panel discussing the FCTC, renowned anti-smoking expert and former president of the infamous Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Derek Yach, said that the industry needs to focus specifically on dialogue with individual governments, rather than continuing to unsuccessfully attempt to dialogue with the WHO.

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