14 March 2023: WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

RIVM was invited to support a meeting on the Implementation of Articles 9 & 10 of the WHO FCTC, which was organised by WHO and held in Egypt in March 2023. Reinskje Talhout, head of RIVM's WHO Collaborating Centre on Tobacco Product Regulation and Control, presented the Dutch experience regulating tobacco products' attractiveness, addictiveness and toxicity. After a general introduction, her presentation focused on e-liquid flavouring regulation, additives banned by the EU Tobacco Products Directive, and nicotine pouch regulation. A lively discussion followed, giving participants the opportunity to pose questions and improve their knowledge or have a better understanding or learn from the experience of the Netherlands. 

Walther Klerx, vice-chair of WHO TobLabNet, also from RIVM, was invited to present on capacity building for testing the content and emissions of nicotine and tobacco products. This presentation provided information on challenges and good practices for regulatory tobacco product testing. Participants also received more information on practical approaches for testing tobacco products in different types of laboratories. 

With our contributions, we provided support to WHO on its work on Tobacco Product Regulation, which has the potential to significantly reduce the demand for and use of tobacco, and the resulting burden of disease by effective regulation of the contents, design features and emissions of tobacco products.

16 - 17 December 2022: Workshop on Tobacco Product Disclosures for countries

RIVM supported WHO by sharing their expertise during a workshop on Tobacco Product Disclosures for three countries in Europe to contribute to WHO’s efforts to support these countries in meeting their policy goal of strengthening implementation of Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC. The workshop took place in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 16 and 17 December 2022. RIVM participated remotely and delivered four presentations. The first presentation introduced several common tobacco product ingredients and their effects on users in terms of attractiveness, addictiveness and toxicity. The second showed the type of data provided by tobacco manufacturers in The Netherlands and some examples of how and why to use this data. The third presentation showed how more advanced analyses can be applied to identify trends and patterns in the data. The final presentation covered examples of how tobacco and e-cigarette product data is used in the Netherlands, for example, to establish a list of ingredients to be allowed in e-cigarettes. With this workshop, we aim to support the participating countries in developing their own systems for tobacco product disclosures and analyzing data provided by manufacturers.