Two abiding memories of GTNF 2022.
One, the first keynote speaker on day one of this tobacco industry event was Deepak Mishra, president of the Americas region at Philip Morris International (PMI).
Mishra told delegates he had given up smoking in 2016 and hadn’t had a cigarette for six years. He then raised his arms in a small gesture of triumph and got a round of applause.
Honestly, it was like stumbling into an AA meeting.
Two, the first keynote speaker on the second day was Adam Afriyie, the Conservative MP for Windsor who is vice-chair of the APPG on Vaping and was once described as a ‘potential future Tory leader’.
When he wasn’t banging the drum for Britain’s regulatory approach to tobacco control, Afriyie was praising Javed Khan’s recent review.
The report, he said, had been "very well received". The standout issues, he said, were that vaping must be front and centre of the drive to get rid of smoking, and the need for more education about vaping among the healthcare establishment.
Unfortunately, alongside Khan’s perfectly reasonable endorsement of vaping as a safer alternative to smoking are some batshit crazy ideas including raising the age of sale of tobacco by one year every year until no-one is allowed to smoke.
Afriyie chose not to mention that. Nor did he mention Khan's recommendation to extend the smoking ban to beer gardens and other outside areas.
Instead he gave the impression that he supported every loony toon in the Javed Khan songbook. (He told me later he didn’t but that’s another story.)
He finished his speech by urging smokers to “Please stop for society", adding, "Do move on”, which I found quite patronising.
That in essence however was the underlying message of GTNF 2022. Smoking is history, tobacco harm reduction is the future.
I’ve no quibble with the latter ambition as long as it doesn’t involve further restrictions and regulations on smoking, but I do find it odd to find myself, if not alone, then fairly isolated when it comes to defending smoking at what is arguably the world’s leading tobacco industry conference.
After I criticised Philip Morris (for calling for a ban on the sale of cigarettes in the UK by 2030) in a panel discussion about prohibition, a handful of people said well done but always privately and never within earshot of anyone else.
It was done almost furtively - a quiet word in a lift, for example, or hotel corridor. I didn’t know these people and I shall probably never see them again, but their words were welcome nonetheless.
Next year’s GTNF is in Seoul, South Korea, which has been talked about as a potential location for several years.
I’d love to go - I’ve never been to that part of the world - but I sense that after twelve years my time at GTNF May be coming to a close.
When a session called ‘Forgotten Smokers’ makes no mention of consumers who enjoy smoking and don’t want to quit (the most forgotten group of all), focussing instead on smokers who are being denied the opportunity to switch to vaping, you know your time is almost up.
Nevertheless it was nice to meet several people I have read about but never previously met, notably Marewa Glover, Tim Andrews and Guy Bentley. Look them up.
PS. Before I left I was invited to meet Adam Afriyie. It was a private meeting so I can’t say more but it’s public knowledge that he’s stepping down as an MP at the next election to return, he says, to business.
His former chief of staff, Russell Walters, now works for Philip Morris UK. What are the odds on his former boss joining him?
Pure speculation on my part but you read it here first.
Update: Conference wise the funniest moment at GTNF 2022 had to be the rapid departure of another keynote speaker, Brian King.
King is director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products and the FDA is currently involved in a lengthy process concerning the regulation of e-cigarette products in the US.
The GTNF audience - which included many companies and individuals affected by this Kafka-esque procedure - was told that King would take questions at the end of his speech.
Somehow he managed to extend it so that, when he finished, oh dear, there was no time for questions because he had to dash off to his next appointment.
And in a flash, like the Scarlet Pimpernel, he was gone.
See also: ‘Is prohibition back?’
