Every voice? Don't hold your breath!

I mentioned recently that the US-based TMA (formerly the Tobacco Merchants Association) is rebranding as the Nicotine Resource Centre.

Yes, you read that right. Founded in 1915, they're dropping the word 'tobacco' from their name.

I noted too that the CEO recently 'liked', on LinkedIn, a post by Global Action to End Smoking (formerly the Foundation for a Smoke Free World) that expressed support for the proposal by the US Food and Drug Administration to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes.

If approved by the incoming Trump administration this would effectively prohibit the overwhelming majority of combustible tobacco products currently on the market in the USA.

I was surprised that the CEO of an organisation founded as the Tobacco Merchants Association would 'like' such a statement but he has now replied, putting me straight, for which I am grateful.

He responded on LinkedIn but I hope he won't mind me publishing it here as well:

I like lots of things on LinkedIn because they’re important parts of the dialogue and will come up at our conferences. ATNF, GTNF and the Nicotine Resource Consortium are open and agnostic forums (the organization doesn’t lobby or take positions). Our forums’ purpose is to bring people together and raise the big ideas and concepts that proliferate across the stakeholder spectrum. Some of those are obviously in opposition to others. But an open and welcoming forum encouraging meaningful dialogue demands hearing out every voice.

I accept that the name Tobacco Merchants Association is a bit old-fashioned, hence the frequent abbreviation to TMA in recent years, but I'm sad that an organisation set up over 100 years ago to represent the tobacco trade now describes itself as an 'agnostic forum' that 'doesn't lobby or take positions', but that's the 21st century for you.

I will also take some convincing that the ATNF and GTNF are 'open' to 'every voice'. It used to be true of GTNF (aka the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum) but I'm not sure it still is.

For example, from its inception in 2008 to 2017 I was invited to take part – as a panellist or primary speaker – in every GTNF, from Bangalore to Brussels, Cape Town to New York.

The last time I was invited to speak – as part of a panel – was in Washington DC in 2022, but as I explained at the time I wasn't part of the main programme. We weren't even in the same hotel as the conference!

Since then invitations to speak at GTNF have been noticeable by their absence (see GTNF - making smokers history), and I would be surprised if we are asked to provide a speaker (or even a panelist) when GTNF convenes in Brussels later this year.

This, despite the existential threat to future generations of adults who might wish to smoke. (If that's not worth a session for debate I don't know what is.) Unfortunately, adults who want to smoke, and adults who don't want to quit smoking, have increasingly been abandoned by organisations that used to defend both their interests and their rights.

If I am wrong and GTNF is still open to 'every voice' I'll be the first to let you know. Don't hold your breath, though!