Seeking new perspectives and innovative solutions, the Global Forum on Nicotine, set to take place in Warsaw, will feature prominent figures like Professor Andrzej Fal and Vivien Azer, who will offer fresh insights on tobacco harm reduction’s economic and health impacts. This event will explore how policies and market trends could shape the future of safer nicotine products in a global context.
With just eight weeks until the 11th edition of the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN24), scheduled in Warsaw from June 13-15, the event organizers are excited to share further details about two of the program’s key sessions. The theme of #GFN24, “Economy, Health, and Tobacco Harm Reduction,” has enabled a diverse program that leverages varied approaches. Examples include Professor Andrzej Fal and Vivien Azer, two speakers with very different professional backgrounds, who will share their unique perspectives at the GFN for the first time.
On Thursday, June 13, the opening day of #GFN24, Professor Andrzej Fal, an internationally renowned expert in pulmonary health, allergies, and public health, will speak. Fal is currently the president of the Polish Public Health Society, leads the Department of Allergies, Pulmonary Diseases, and Internal Medicine at Poland’s National Institute of Medicine, and has published over 350 articles in his fields of expertise.
Professor Fal’s presentation, titled “Economic and Health Benefits of Tobacco Harm Reduction,” will examine the impact of various policy models and safer nicotine products compared to the continued consumption of combustible tobacco, both at the individual and population levels. The presentation, moderated by Dr. Grzegorz Król, will also feature Michelle Minton, a senior policy analyst at the Reason Foundation in the U.S., specializing in consumer policy and regulation.
The panel will address questions to understand the current and future situation of tobacco harm reduction: What does the current evidence tell us about safer nicotine products’ potential health and economic benefits? How should we evaluate this evidence? What more do we need to know, and what are the forecasts for the future and the short- and long-term costs of different policy alternatives?
Additionally, the discussion will explore how lawmakers and regulators can balance health and economic imperatives to achieve positive outcomes, what factors might shape a practical legislative and regulatory framework, and how future progress should be monitored and policies adjusted in response. This in-depth analysis seeks to provide clarity and direction in the evolution of tobacco and nicotine control policies.
On Saturday, June 15, Vivien Azer will deliver her keynote lecture titled “The Influence of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Market: Past, Present, and Future.” As a prominent financial analyst and expert in the nicotine market, she will share insights from her successful career on Wall Street, where she was recently the Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Beverages, Tobacco, and Cannabis at T.D. Cowen.
Her coverage of the tobacco and cannabis sectors earned her industry recognition, and she was named to the All-America Research Team by Institutional Investor multiple times. In 2022, Vivien was selected as one of the most influential names in cannabis on Forbes’ “The Cannabis 42.0” list.
Vivien Azer will discuss the complex factors that motivated and guided initial investment in the field and the potential impacts of regulation or prohibition on future investment patterns. As the first senior financial analyst in the U.S. to cover the emerging cannabis sector, she will consider whether there are lessons to be learned from her experience for the safer nicotine products industry.
Jon Fell, former executive director and partner of the UK investment firm Ash Park Capital, will join her. David Sweanor, Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, will moderate the session.
In a press release, Jessica Harding, Director of the #GFN24 Conference, expressed her enthusiasm for incorporating new voices into the congress to share their experience on tobacco harm reduction’s economic and health impacts. She also posed the question: “There are tens of millions of people worldwide who already have or could successfully quit smoking by switching to safer nicotine products. At #GFN24, we’ll be asking what is the cost to those individuals, to their families, to the health systems that must care for them, or the economies that must manage without their labour, if poorly drafted regulation pushes them back to combustible tobacco? And to what extent will the future of tobacco harm reduction be decided not by governments but by the markets and consumer demand for safer products?”
Registration for #GFN24 is open, and accommodation at the Marriott in Warsaw is discounted until Friday, May 10. Attendance in person is necessary to participate in the complete program, although some sessions will be broadcast at no cost to registered participants who cannot travel. Simultaneous translation into Spanish and Russian will be available on-site and online for numerous sessions.
The 2024 edition of the Global Forum on Nicotine, under the theme “Economy, health, and tobacco harm reduction” (#GFN24), will be held from Thursday, June 13 to Saturday, June 15, at the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw (located at Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, Warsaw 00-697, Poland).
Registration for #GFN24
