Science and research should be the basis for tobacco policy-making.
Amid the cacophony from anti-tobacco activists and organizations regurgitating the same rhetoric that tobacco is evil, it kills, and it needs to be done away with completely, a much-needed voice of reason reminds us that tobacco harm reduction efforts should be based on scientific research.
Former World Health Organization (WHO) policy and cooperation research director, Professor Tiki Pangestu, told Antara News, “A more open, evidence- and research-based objective dialogue from all parties is needed,” to know the real facts regarding the concept, while also acknowledging that scientific research is hard to conduct in low- and middle-income nations due to stakeholders’ lack of openness.
Indonesia’s Public Health Observer Foundation’s (YPKP) co-founder, Dr. Amaliya, also stressed the importance of research on alternative tobacco products, saying that all parties should be encouraged to conduct and prioritize scientific research when discussing alternative tobacco products.
"In mitigating this cigarette epidemic, there cannot just be two options, quit or die. To mitigate this addiction, it is very hard to reduce nicotine need to zero," she said, also pointing out that scientific research, which needs to be intensified and supported by governments, can play an important role in handling this.
Pangestu spent 13 years at WHO headquarters in Geneva, working with countries to strengthen their national health research systems.