REDAKSI8.COM, BRUSSELS – This Sunday, the WHO marks World No Tobacco Day by calling for stricter restrictions on vapes and nicotine pouches.
A day earlier, on Saturday, the world celebrates World Vape Day by highlighting how many lives this approach is costing.
Liza Katsiashvili, Operations Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance say, The WHO is lecturing the world about nicotine addiction while 8 million people a year die from smoking.
“Every country that has managed to reduce smoking rates quickly did so by embracing less harmful alternatives. The WHO’s response is to restrict them. After decades of this approach, 1.2 billion people still smoke,”.
Across Asia, countries such as India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Turkey and others continue following the WHO’s recommendations by restricting adult access to less harmful nicotine products.
In many cases, this leads to growing illicit trade and the criminalisation of consumers. Is this really the answer to high smoking rates?
The science is clear. Vaping, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products significantly reduce exposure to the chemicals that cause smoking-related diseases.
Nicotine is addictive, but it is not the main cause of smoking-related illnesses. The real danger comes from combustion. Remove the smoke, and the risk profile changes dramatically.
World Vape Day 2026 runs under the theme “One Switch Everyone Wins.”
When a smoker switches, it is not only their own health that improves. Secondhand smoke increases children’s risk of asthma, pneumonia, and bronchitis.
Maternal smoking is linked to low birth weight, preterm birth, and stillbirth.
Children of smokers are also up to four times more likely to become regular smokers themselves.
One switch removes almost all of that from the home.
This week, vapers and harm reduction advocates in Argentina, Germany, and South Africa have taken to the streets to demand sensible policies that give smokers real alternatives instead of pushing them back towards cigarettes.
The WHO’s WNTD 2026 campaign describes vapes and nicotine pouches as industry tactics designed to hook a new generation. Meanwhile, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Japan, Czechia, and Greece, countries that have reduced smoking rates faster than almost anywhere else in the world recognise them as public health tools.
“Smoke is the problem. Nicotine is not. Eight million deaths every year make that distinction urgent,” Katsiashvili added.
