WHO awards Mexican President for anti-smoking policy

The World Health Organization (WHO) has honored Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador with an award for his policy of banning smoking and heated tobacco products, which was deemed controversial among tobacco harm reduction experts.

On World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the Mexican government announced the approval of a new Tobacco Law, which includes a ban on the sale of all electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The official reason for the ban was cited as a health concern, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stating that the claim that these products are a safer alternative to cigarettes is a "lie". He went on to say that vaping is also harmful to health.

He then displayed a pink vaping device to illustrate how these products are appealing to young people. "Look at this color, this design," said Lopez Obrador. In October of last year, Mexico banned the import and export of electronic cigarette devices and pods, but since then many companies continued to sell their stock. The new ban includes "the circulation and sale of these new products," added Obrador.

Countries following the guidance of the World Health Organization have been combating high smoking rates.

Meanwhile, a 59-page white paper was presented discussing the case studies conducted in several countries to measure progress related to smoking cessation. The findings show that countries following the World Health Organization's guidance have been consistently battling higher smoking rates.

The publication titled "Best Practices From Around the World: UK, New Zealand, France, and Canada for Vaping Works" was released by the Property Rights Alliance. It consists of four case studies from Christopher Snowdon (Institute of Economic Affairs, UK), Louis Houlbrooke (Taxpayers' Union, New Zealand), Patrick Coquart (IREF, France), and Professor Ian Irvine (Concordia University, Canada), and confirms what public health experts have consistently pointed out.

Countries that have implemented a progressive policy to reduce the harm caused by tobacco are experiencing a significant decrease in smoking rates. Meanwhile, those that have followed guidance from the World Health Organization continue to suffer from excessive smoking-related illnesses and deaths," said the Asia Pacific Advocates for Tobacco Harm Reduction Alliance (CAPHRA).

Nancy Loucas, the coordinator of CAPHRA, stated that luckily the release of this important data coincides with the notorious Ninth Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) held in November last year. She further said that finally this document proves that countries that have adopted smoking, such as France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada, have witnessed a faster decline in smoking rates, which is twice the global average.