• Evidence for tobacco harm reduction is growing, alongside consumer uptake of safer nicotine products;
• Yet risk perceptions and public understanding of their role in smoking cessation are deteriorating;
• Experts at GFN in June will address the communications issues impeding progress for tobacco harm reduction.
Registration is open for the annual Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) which will hold its twelfth edition this summer in Warsaw, Poland, from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 June 2025 at the Presidential Hotel, Warsaw (formerly the Marriott). Challenging perceptions - effective communication for tobacco harm reduction will discuss ways to overcome one of the major obstacles to widespread adoption of an approach that could dramatically improve the health of millions of people who smoke.
Since the turn of the millennium, there have been huge technological advances in nicotine delivery systems. Products such as vapes, pouches, pasteurised snus and heated tobacco products all offer significantly safer ways to use nicotine than combustible cigarettes, decoupling the intake of nicotine, a relatively low risk substance, from the substantial health risks of inhaling tobacco smoke, or using risky oral tobaccos.
In many countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the UK, consumer uptake of SNP has accelerated falling smoking rates; in some markets, sales are now challenging the dominance of the combustible cigarette. Yet this headway is being slowed by a paradox: as the scientific evidence in favour of tobacco harm reduction continues to grow, popular opinion about safer nicotine products is deteriorating.
Internationally, bans and restrictions are proliferating. Media discourse and some public health messaging focuses on scare stories about safer nicotine products, while ignoring the massive ongoing health crisis caused by tobacco use.(1,2) One 2024 study of over 28,000 adults who smoke in England found that the last decade has seen harm perceptions of vaping worsen substantially, to the extent that most adults who smoked in 2023 falsely believed vapes to be equally as or more harmful than cigarettes.(3) The net result is that more people will continue to smoke for longer.
For GFN Conference Director Jessica Harding, the focus on effective communications emerged from a milestone reached in the development of the approach. “We’re now a quarter of a century into harm reduction for risky tobacco use,” she says. “Millions have already used safer nicotine products to quit smoking, but it’s too slow, and messaging is a big part of this. We’ve got to make the case effectively with policymakers, but it’s also crucial at grassroots level, from consumer to consumer, helping those still smoking find their own route to switch or quit.”
GFN25: Challenging perceptions - effective communication for tobacco harm reduction will encourage reflection, discussion and debate on how professionals and consumers can combat the misunderstandings, misconceptions and mischaracterisations that are putting the brakes on progress. The event will bring together global experts on nicotine and tobacco harm reduction, consumer advocates and those with expertise in complex messaging. Registration is open now, with discounted accommodation rates available until 15 May.
Each day will feature keynote presentations, followed by commentary from a respondent and the opportunity for Q&A from the audience, both in the room and online. Moderated panel discussions and workshops will have similar opportunities for audience engagement and participation. The conference organisers offer onsite and online translation facilities into Spanish and Russian for much of the event, and a Spanish-language session will allow an in-depth focus on Iberoamerican issues. The day before the conference, Wednesday 18 June, will be devoted to side and satellite meetings, many open to registered delegates.
The Global Forum on Nicotine’s broadcast arm, GFN TV, will again provide live commentary on the event, and all who register have the opportunity to contribute content and share tobacco harm reduction research, advocacy or views. Submissions are being sought for GFNFives, the ScienceLab and the GFN Film Festival before the deadline of 14 May, as well as for the inaugural GFN Photo Festival, a new addition to the creative component of the conference.
2Firsts will continue to serve as an official media partner of GFN, bringing the latest coverage to industry professionals worldwide.
For more information and to register your interest in attending GFN25 as a media representative, please contact: media@gfn.events
Click to download GFN25 logos and images of last year’s event for editorial use. All images © Global Forum on Nicotine.
Notes to editors:
(1) Pesko, MF, Cummings, KM et al: (2023), United States public health officials need to correct e-cigarette health misinformation. Addiction, 118: 785-788. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16097
(2) Balfour, DJ, Benowitz, NL et al: (2021) Balancing Consideration of the Risks and Benefits of E-Cigarettes. American Journal of Public Health 111, 1661_1672, https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306416
(3) Jackson SE, Tattan-Birch H et al: (2024) Trends in Harm Perceptions of E-Cigarettes vs Cigarettes Among Adults Who Smoke in England, 2014-2023. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(2):e240582. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.0582
Dates and location: The Global Forum on Nicotine 2025: Challenging perceptions - effective communication for tobacco harm reduction (#GFN25) runs from Thursday 19 until Saturday 21 June, with side events taking place on Wednesday 18 June, at the Warsaw Presidential Hotel, Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, Warsaw 00-697 Poland. The hotel was formerly known as the Marriott Warsaw Centrum.
Conference audience: The Global Forum on Nicotine is the only global event that welcomes all stakeholders involved with new and safer nicotine products, including: consumers and consumer advocates; public health experts; policy analysts, parliamentarians and government officials; academics and researchers; product manufacturers and distributors; and media representatives.
Funding declaration: The Global Forum on Nicotine does not receive sponsorship from manufacturers, distributors or retailers of nicotine products including pharmaceutical, vaping and tobacco companies. Conference-supporting organisations endorse the event, but have no financial or administrative involvement in organisation of the event.
Conference organisers: The Global Forum on Nicotine is organised by Global Forum on Nicotine Limited, an events company committed to providing a platform for global public health debate, knowledge exchange and networking, underpinned by the principles of inclusiveness and multi-sectoral engagement.
2Firsts will continue to serve as an official media partner of GFN, bringing the latest coverage to industry professionals worldwide.
