INNCO says WHO’s Executive Board was set to consider a number of items at its January meeting including Provisional Agenda item 22 EB148/47 [link], regarding the Report of the Tenth Meeting of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation. The consumer organisation added that only the Study Group’s recommendations had been published, failing to provide the whole report and not disclosing the experts and research it relied upon for its recommendations.
“[This lack of disclosure] demonstrates a disturbing lack of transparency, especially troubling given that these recommendations will serve as the basis for many countries to effectively ban or dramatically reduce adult access to a wide variety of safer nicotine products,” INNCO said.
INNCO submitted its comments to the recommendations but added its “dismay that the lack of transparency made it impossible to respond in depth”. It called the Study Group to task for labelling tobacco harm reduction as a “distraction” instead of acknowledging the incredible promise these strategies hold when used as a complement to traditional tobacco control measures.
It points out that as decisions reached affect the lives vapers, “as well as lives of the hundreds of millions of people who currently smoke or use other high-risk forms of tobacco who may be denied effective access to lower-risk products as a result of the Study Group’s Report,” it is, “imperative that consumers have a voice in these deliberations that so intimately and profoundly impact our ability to improve and safeguard our health.”
INNCO says that transparency and the need for the consumer voice to be heard is essential for public confidence and trust in the recommendations and the processes used to make those recommendations.
They highlight the irony that WHO itself has published a call for openness: “To build trust, communicators must be transparent about how WHO analyses data and how it makes recommendations and policies. Messages also need to acknowledge uncertainty and quickly address any misconceptions or errors. Communicators must rapidly and publicly report the participants, processes and conclusions of guideline development meetings, International Humanitarian Relief (IHR) emergency committee meetings, [and] working groups. Transparency of all communications is essential to ensure the credibility and trust of WHO information, advice and guidance.” [link]
INNCO concludes: “On behalf of consumers worldwide, we respectfully urge you to consider our comments, which we believe will provide valuable insight in your deliberations. To those members who have taken the time to read the contents of this email, we offer our sincere gratitude and thank you in advance for your serious consideration of the issues raised by consumer stakeholders.”
News from: https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2021-01-29_innco-submits-to-who.html