By Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance
As the World Conference on Tobacco Control unfolded in Dublin this week, a powerful visual protest captured a fundamental injustice: consumers, the very people most affected by tobacco policies, remain systematically excluded from global decision-making. The “Voices Unheard – Consumers Matter!” campaign featured a light show illuminating the conference centre and a silent protest with taped mouths, symbolising how adult smokers and ex-smokers are denied a seat at the table. This exclusion isn’t just ironic; it’s a fatal flaw in global tobacco control, one that will reach crisis point at November’s COP11 in Geneva unless policymakers confront the ideologically driven agendas of Michael Bloomberg and the World Health Organization head-on.
The current approach to tobacco control is broken by design. While Bloomberg pours billions into prohibitionist policies, and the WHO aggressively pushes flavour bans and restrictions on safer alternatives, the lived experiences of millions who’ve quit smoking through reduced-risk products are dismissed. This isn’t an accident, it’s institutionalised exclusion. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which Bloomberg’s funding heavily influences, explicitly sidelines consumer voices and harm reduction expertise. The result is policies like India’s 2019 vaping ban—directly advocated by Bloomberg-funded groups—that eliminate life-saving alternatives while combustible cigarettes remain widely available. It’s a perverse public health strategy: protect the cigarette market by banning competition.
Nowhere is this disconnect more alarming than in the European Union. As Sweden nears “smoke-free” status through pragmatic harm reduction, the EU Commission is flirting with prohibitionist policies during its Tobacco Products Directive revision. Leaked proposals suggest flavour bans, nicotine pouch restrictions, and vaping taxes—measures that would inevitably push Europeans back to smoking. This isn’t speculation; it’s an established pattern. When the World Vapers’ Alliance delivered 100,000 signatures to the European Parliament protesting these regressive measures, it highlighted a democratic deficit: policymakers are legislating against consumers, not for them. The EU’s alignment with WHO’s anti-science stance—where “less harmful” is wilfully misinterpreted as “still harmful”—ignores overwhelming evidence from Public Health England and others that vaping is 95% safer than smoking.
COP11 presents a final opportunity to avert policy disaster. Yet the FCTC’s 20-year track record is bleak: consumer exclusion, ideology over evidence, and Bloomberg’s shadow dominate. The FCTC process actively bars consumer participation, dismissing real-world insights from those who’ve successfully quit smoking. WHO’s demand for flavour bans contradicts data showing flavours are critical for adult smoking cessation. Bloomberg funds the majority of global tobacco control initiatives, making his foundation’s opposition to harm reduction de facto global policy.
Silenced but not silent: Our protest at #WCTC2025 shows how consumers are left out of the debate on tobacco policy. We won’t be ignored—our voices matter. #VoicesUnheard #COP11 pic.twitter.com/x4i709VNdj
— Michael Landl (@LandlMichael) June 23, 2025
The priority must be to save lives
This must end. Countries embracing harm reduction see unprecedented declines in smoking: Japan’s heated tobacco adoption reduced cigarette sales by 42 per cent in five years. Sweden and New Zealand are soon becoming smoke-free due to their progressive approaches to vaping, pouches, and snus.
The solution requires fundamental restructuring. Consumers must be at the centre of policy design, including ex-smokers and harm reduction advocates in COP11 delegations. Policymakers should follow the evidence, regulating based on relative risk, not moral panic. Bloomberg’s overreach must be rejected; public health policy shouldn’t be dictated by a billionaire’s personal crusade. The FCTC must modernise and embrace tobacco harm reduction as a core strategy, not a threat.
The protest in Dublin (see picture) wasn’t a theatre, it was a warning. When policies are drafted in echo chambers of ideology and influence, they fail. As COP11 approaches, the choice is clear: continue Bloomberg’s prohibitionist experiment and condemn millions to smoking-related deaths, or finally listen to those who’ve found safer exits from smoking. The future of harm reduction hangs in the balance, and we refuse to stay silent.
Tonight, we lit up the World Conference on Tobacco Control building to show that millions of consumers are still excluded from the debate. The message is clear: we demand a seat at the table. #VoicesUnheard #COP11 #WCTC2025 pic.twitter.com/6JnXdWhQef
— Michael Landl (@LandlMichael) June 23, 2025
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