July 6, 2018 Rendez-vous #14
with Paddy Costall
Paddy is one of the co-founders of the Global Forum on Nicotine.
Thank you Paddy for accepting our rendez-vous. May I ask you to introduce yourself?
Paddy Costall: My name is Paddy Costall and I am one of three Directors of Knowledge Action Change. Along with my colleagues Gerry Stimson and Grzegorz Krol, we organise the Global Forum on Nicotine and also manage the Nicotine Science and Policy website and daily alerts service. All our activities are aimed at raising awareness of tobacco harm reduction and the science that supports it. My own background includes working for 40 years in the fields of drugs, alcohol and criminal justice, including development and management of services in the community and in prisons, with the last 13 years spent in consultancy and event organisation related to public health.
Q1. The 5th Global Forum in Nicotine just took place in Warsaw. Can you give us some data about the number of sessions, the number of participants, where they came from, who they are? How different is the 2018 forum from the previous ones in those regards?
Paddy Costall: This recent edition of the Global Forum saw almost 500 participants, from 60+ countries attend. It was by far the most successful of the events to date and we were particularly pleased to welcome over 60 consumer advocates from around the world, many of who were there to also attend the inaugural General Assembly of the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) which was hosted by KAC prior to the conference.
The theme for the conference ‘Rethinking Nicotine’ reflected our belief that the science and use of nicotine now needs to be examined in a way that reflects its relatively benign nature and moves us away from the narrative that conflates nicotine solely with smoking, rather then accepting that it has benefits and provides pleasure to many.
Over 3 days participants had the chance to hear from speakers from 19 countries, representing academics and scientists, policy makers, public health professionals and, of course, consumers. The sessions comprised panel discussions, plenaries and parallel sessions discussing science and policy.
There were country updates from locations where new developments have been taking place - including the formation of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, the rise of heat-not-burn technology impacting on combustible products market in Japan, the growing influence of consumers in Mexico and Latin America, the relative risks of products, including the snus experience from Scandinavia and many more.
The presentations and videos from the sessions can be found on the conference archive site and on YouTube. You can also find information regarding posters here.
In terms of the difference from previous years, I think that there was an increased level of optimism among the participants about tackling the challenges ahead - most immediately trying to ensure a more balanced discussion of safe nicotine use during the impending FCTC COP 8, in Geneva, in October - although all are acutely aware of the continuing negative influence exercised by the extreme elements in public health and tobacco control.
Q2. I could not make it to Warsaw. I just watched on YouTube the last panel debate Rethinking nicotine: Where to next? and I later listened to you talking on YouTube about the first Global Forum on Nicotine in 2014: you regret the absence of any representative from WHO, policy makers or public health officials. From the 2018 panel it seems the situation was not very different from 2014. How do you assess this absence/ostracism?
Paddy Costall: Yes, looking again at that video - apart from my having aged considerably - sadly the same situation persists with regard to many in public health, and particularly with WHO, with them being unwilling to attend and take part in public debates on major issues concerning individual and community health and well being.
Our efforts to engage continue and I am heartened by the efforts being made at a local level by emerging alliances of consumers and professionals convinced by the arguments about safer nicotine to try to challenge ideologically driven policies in many places and to ’speak truth to power’.
The emergence of organisations like the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and similar organisations in other countries, such as Canada, along with nascent developments in some LMICs, particularly in Asia and Africa, such as the South African Harm Reduction Association, give cause for optimism, but always tempered by realism in relation to the scale of the challenges we face globally.
Q3. Breaking the opposition of WHO to any discussion about tobacco harm reduction appeared to be one of the priorities stated by the panel along with uphill battles in many countries very much under the influence of WHO. Konstantinos Farsalinos exhorted participants to engage THR adversaries. How do you think such a mobilization could be achieved once the forum is over? Are there ways to keep and sustain/support the organizing that is needed in so many countries?
Paddy Costall: One thing I would like to highlight in relation to this question is the impending publication of the first Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction report.
This report sets out to detail the current state of the science, regulation and use of nicotine. It is compiled from multiple sources, including WHO data, market data, surveys of consumers, scientific data on relative risk and also includes references to human rights issues and other issues arising from various UN charters and conventions.
The aim is to create a document of record to be used by legislators and regulators, as well as by those who seek to influence them, which is also something useful for the media, when crafting stories to try to create some balance in their final products. We hope that the document can provide similar balance in discussions that will take place at COP 8 and the media reporting of the proceedings.
We are very grateful to colleagues around the globe who have contributed information for therefore, as well as time to make comments on its contents, to ensure it is as comprehensive as it might be. The formal launch will be announced in the next couple of months and the report will be available in both print and online versions.
Q4. For the first time, there was a film festival. I counted film-makers from 7 countries (US, UK, France, Italy, Hungary, Thailand, Australia) but I did not find any link to access the films on line. I did find a few on YouTube and posted the links below but are they going to be all accessible? What about the sessions? Were other presentations recorded beside the last panel?
Paddy Costall: We are indebted to Aaron Biebert, the Director of ‘A Billion Lives’, for his skillful crafting of the film festival. As first attempt it was necessarily small in scale, but still attracted 50+ people to screenings. It is definitely going to feature more widely next year and beyond and we will be seeking entries to screen in 2019 in the autumn this year. We are working on access, to ensure we can post the films on the archive site, along with the videos shot at the conference.
Q5. What are the priorities until the next forum?
Paddy Costall: We are still in the process of receiving feedback from participants in last month’s conference and will look at this in relation to their expressed priorities for next year. We will also be keeping a watch on developments in science and regulation, including what happens at COP 8, all to inform our decision making in relation to the agenda for GFN 2019.
What will not change is our commitment to ensure that science drives the agenda and that we aim for a ‘broad church’ amongst the participants and speakers, to maintain the quality and relevance of the event as a whole.
Q6. is there anything you would like to add?
Paddy Costall: Only to issue an invitation to all your readers to attend GFN 2019, which will take place at the Marriott Centrum Hotel, in Warsaw, 13-15 June next year. The website for the conference, with a call for abstracts to speak and registration, will be launched in October.
Thank you Paddy for having taken the time for this rendez-vous.
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