The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction
Advocates (CAPHRA) condemns the World Health Organization’s
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat
for permitting Bloomberg-funded prohibitionist NGOs to
dictate policy narratives at COP11, directly contradicting
the treaty’s foundational principles.
The “Dirty
Ashtray Award” presented to New Zealand exposes a
fundamental corruption of the FCTC process. The Secretariat
has allowed ideologically-driven NGOs to write unaccountable
rules, then shame countries refusing compliance with a
prohibitionist script disconnected from real-world health
outcomes.
This has nothing to do with saving lives. It
is about control.
New Zealand’s smoking rate of 6.8
per cent – one of the world’s lowest – proves harm
reduction works. Yet the country faces international mockery
for empowering smokers with evidence-based alternatives.
Meanwhile, nations with double New Zealand’s smoking
prevalence receive praise for rhetoric alone.
The
latest youth data released on 30 November 2025 demonstrates
New Zealand’s nuanced success. Youth vaping rates have
halved since their 2021 peak, with daily vaping among Year
10 students dropping to 7.1 per cent from 10.1 per cent in
2022. Critically, youth daily smoking is now “negligible” at
just 1 per cent – a generational achievement led by
comprehensive harm reduction policy. Emeritus Professor
Robert Beaglehole of Action on Smoking and Health declared
this “a major global success which we should be
celebrating… we are leading the way.”
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
Yet the award
ignores this nuance. New Zealand balances adult smoker
support with youth protection through regulated access to
vaping, disposal bans, retail restrictions, and increased
penalties for selling to minors – penalties rising from
$5,000 to $10,000 for individuals and $10,000 to $100,000
for corporations as of December 2024.
Supporting
countries at COP11 – including Canada, Sweden, Germany,
Serbia, and others championing transparency, consumer
engagement, and science-based policy – demonstrate the
treaty has strayed from its purpose. These delegations
recognise what the FCTC Secretariat refuses: countries must
develop policies suited to their specific contexts and
populations.
Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas
condemned the authoritarian approach. “The suggestion that
any country or advocate supporting harm reduction must be
aligned with industry is unacceptable. It shuts down
legitimate scientific discussion. Public health decisions
should be based on evidence, not ideological purity
tests.”
The chart of COP11 positions reveals stark
divisions. New Zealand, Serbia, Albania, Guinea-Bissau,
North Macedonia, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis demand
transparency and inclusion. Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden
engage consumers and lived experience. Germany, Sweden, and
New Zealand champion independent science showing pouches 99
per cent less harmful than cigarettes.
Yet the FCTC
Secretariat permits NGOs to frame harm reduction as an
“industry tool,” ignoring independent research and real
health gains closing health equity gaps for Māori and
Pacific communities.
CAPHRA demands the FCTC
Secretariat enforce treaty obligations. The FCTC exists for
countries to develop policies for their situations – not
for NGOs to enforce ideological conformity.
Loucas
added: “Not all products carry the same risk, and not all
countries face the same challenges. Treating every viewpoint
that is not prohibition as suspicious makes it impossible to
design effective, proportionate policies. Innovation,
updated evidence, and diverse contexts must guide public
health – not Bloomberg’s agenda.”
With eight million
tobacco deaths annually, the time for accountability is now.
The FCTC must choose: serve public health or serve
prohibitionist
gatekeepers.
