Today (May 12), the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) released a critical position statement warning that misinformation about safer nicotine products is putting millions of lives at risk and undermining global public health efforts.
“CAPHRA’s analysis revealed that persistent anti-vaping propaganda, often promoted by influential health bodies, is drowning out mounting scientific evidence supporting tobacco harm reduction,” CAPHRA said in a statement. “Countries such as the UK and New Zealand, which have embraced evidence-based approaches, are seeing significant declines in smoking rates, yet much of the world remains gripped by outdated ideology.”
“The scale of misinformation about safer nicotine products is staggering and deliberate,” said Clarisse Virgino, CAPHRA Philippine Representative. “It is costing lives by discouraging smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives. Ideological opposition is being prioritized over science, and the public is paying the price.”
CAPHRA’s statement said that despite robust evidence showing vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, global health agencies continue to mislead the public about the risks. CAPHRA executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas criticized the World Health Organization for “ignoring the science and silencing consumer voices,” arguing that this approach perpetuates the deadly smoking epidemic.
CAPHRA is calling on governments and health authorities to embrace transparency and evidence, and to recognize harm reduction as a vital tool in the fight against smoking-related disease. “We need pragmatic solutions, not ideological warfare. The stakes are simply too high,” Loucas said.
