Join us for the eleventh episode of GFN Voices 2023!
In this episode Atakan Befrits and Stefan Mathisson decry the exclusionary practices of global tobacco control, and look ahead to the next 10 years of THR.
Transcription:
Joanna Junak:
Hello, Atakan. Nice to see you again in Warsaw.
Atakan Befrits:
Likewise, Joanna.
Joanna Junak:
Can you tell me what do you think about this year's GFN conference?
Atakan Befrits:
Well, it's the 10th anniversary and it is fantastic to see so many people here. These haven't been easy 10 years. Sometimes it feels like we're moving backwards. So it is crucial that we go on, I think. We are seeing a lot of advocates here, even a bit more than we've had before. So yesterday when we had our general assembly, we actually had 23 of our 32 members on, which is a record for us as well. So all in all, excellent.
Joanna Junak:
Okay. And this year's strap line is tobacco harm reduction the next decade. What do you think needs to change in the next 10 years?
Atakan Befrits:
Oh, that's so difficult. There's so many things. I think we need to speed up because if we are looking past COP10, I see what I would refer to as a scorched earth tactic from tobacco control that we suffer from as consumers very much. And that is that it seems shutting doors in global tobacco control, both at the WHO, FCTC level, but also national and regional. Shutting doors that can be shut. And a Swedish professor that I sometimes talk to, she's fantastic. She basically says it takes seven years to get a bad law in the books or a bad policy in the books. And then after you've done that, if you want to take it out, that takes 30 years. So therefore having those doors not slam shut on us, but rather keeping them open, to me, is one of the most important things we can do. And that has to do with hammering home and disseminating the already existing science over and over and over to new people in new fora. But for that, we need to be able to be in those fora. And as consumers, we are pretty much excluded currently in global tobacco control fora. And that is sad because we are the beneficiaries of the science that all the other fantastic people here do on a daily basis. But without us, it's also difficult for them to get that science out. So there is a symbiotic kind of relationship that we need to be better at utilizing. I think.
Joanna Junak:
And which sessions have been the most interesting for you so far?
Atakan Befrits:
Oh, the Russell Oration yesterday. Definitely.
Joanna Junak:
And why?
Atakan Befrits:
Well, because I think Professor Roberto Sussman is a fantastic example of a real hardcore scientist realizing that there's something not really working out according to the rules in our specific space. And then he moves in and kind of makes a real difference. So I respect him tremendously for that.
Joanna Junak:
Great. Thank you so much.
Atakan Befrits:
Thank you. Thank you. See you next year.
Joanna Junak:
Hello, Stefan. Nice to see you in Warsaw. What do you think about this year's GFN conference?
Stefan Mathisson:
I think it's a lot. Lots of good people to meet as an advocate and as a journalist. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge and, you know, activism going on here. So it's really exciting to be here. Really.
Joanna Junak:
This year's strap line is tobacco harm reduction the next decade. What do you think needs to change in the next 10 years?
Stefan Mathisson:
What needs to change? What will change? Two different things. I think we're seeing something new in the next 10 years that we haven't seen before. I think tobacco harm reduction has always been kind of a... It's not a part of the mainstream consuming habits of people. Some countries have it, like Sweden, but in the world. So I think in the next 10 years we'll be seeing a whole new debate on harm reduction because of the accessibility of the products. I mean, we have disposable e-cigarettes coming around in convenience stores. This is going to really challenge the cigarette market. We have oral products making their way out of Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, coming into stores all over the place. Also, convenience stores. I think all this mainstreaming of tobacco harm reduction is really going to have an impact on public health and on the debate on nicotine as well, in good ways and bad ways. So we as advocates need to be ready for that discussion that's coming. I mean, it's going to be a completely different ballgame as it was 10 years ago. I mean, 10 years ago we had to struggle to prove things about harm reduction and that it actually worked and stuff like that. Now we have to defend the technology in a different way, I think.
Joanna Junak:
And which session do you think is the most interesting for you?
Stefan Mathisson:
The most interesting for me? Well, I think the one... I don't remember what they were called because there are so many of them. Clive Bates had a session on the development the last 15 years. That was really interesting. There was also a meeting with consumer groups yesterday. It was always interesting. Lots of debating going on there. Oh, I don't remember everyone. I mean, just hearing everyone is interesting, so I kind of forget. They kind of blur together sometimes for me. It's interesting to hear about from the consumer groups in different countries, like in Asia and in Africa. For me as a Swede, I mean, we have a special kind of environment to discuss this in, but it's a completely different thing in Africa. So those perspectives are really important.
Joanna Junak:
Thank you so much.
Stefan Mathisson:
Thank you.