International public health experts at the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) 2026 in Warsaw have challenged the scientific validity of global bans on non-combustible nicotine products. This pushback occurs as countries like India, Mexico, and Brazil tighten restrictions, a move scholars argue ignores crucial scientific evidence on tobacco harm reduction.
Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, founder of the International Association for Smoking Control and Tobacco Harm Reduction, argued that the infamous 2019–2020 EVALI (E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury) crisis in the U.S. falsely scapegoated standard e-cigarettes.
The outbreak resulted in 2,807 hospitalizations and 68 deaths. However, the U.S. CDC confirmed that 82% of hospitalized patients had used black-market liquids containing THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), not commercial nicotine e-cigarettes.
Dr. Farsalinos highlighted that because e-cigarettes had been safely used by tens of millions globally for a decade prior to 2019 without any acute outbreaks, the sudden, localized EVALI spike could not logically be attributed to standard vaping. He also emphasized that inhaling vaporized cannabis should not be classified under the same umbrella as nicotine vaping.
The common assumption that vaping acts as a “gateway” to smoking traditional cigarettes was also challenged. Dr. Arielle Selya, a scientific advisor to GFN, argued that existing studies claiming a gateway effect fail to control for confounding variables.
“If the gateway theory were true, youth who vape should smoke at significantly higher rates,” Selya explained. Instead, factors such as mental health issues, risk-seeking behavior, and family smoking history are the actual drivers, making the statistical link between vaping and subsequent smoking insignificant.
In fact, scientific evidence suggests the reverse is true: youth who already smoke are simply more likely to try vaping as a less harmful alternative.
Now in its 13th year, the Global Forum on Nicotine remains the only international conference dedicated to examining the role of safer nicotine products in helping smokers transition away from combustible tobacco. The 2026 forum united researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to advocate for evidence-based tobacco harm reduction (THR) policies.