From June 19 to 21, 2025, the 12th Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) was held in Warsaw, Poland, with the theme of “Challenging cognition-promoting the effective communication of tobacco harm reduction”. This conference brought together representatives from public health, media, policy, medical, e-cigarette industry, consumer organizations and other parties to explore how to improve the cognition and communication of nicotine and its alternative products to promote the effective implementation of tobacco harm reduction strategies.
The conference pointed out that the public and decision-makers currently have serious misunderstandings about safer nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn (HTP), which not only hinders the advancement of tobacco harm reduction work, but also affects smokers’ access to healthier alternatives, further exacerbating the 8 million premature deaths related to smoking worldwide each year. Therefore, the accuracy and effectiveness of information dissemination are highlighted by the theme of the conference.
The conference repeatedly emphasized that misinformation “is killing people”. This strong wording stems from reality: the public generally confuses the risks of e-cigarettes with those of traditional cigarettes, and even believes that the former is more harmful. For example, a Canadian survey of people over 15 years old found that most people believed that e-cigarettes were “similar” to cigarettes or “unclear” about their harmfulness. Another survey of 1,000 doctors in the United States showed that more than 83% mistakenly believed that nicotine can cause cardiovascular disease, and more than 80% mistakenly equated it with carcinogens.
This media misleading and medical misunderstanding has its roots. On the one hand, journalists tend to focus on “ups and downs” rather than “daily life”. They are more willing to report on occasional e-cigarette incidents (such as the 2019 EVALI lung disease crisis), thereby covering up the overall low-risk nature of e-cigarettes; on the other hand, human cognitive mechanisms have a preferential memory effect on negative information, which makes it more difficult to spread correct information than to spread negative warnings.
In addition to the influence of the media and cognitive mechanisms, international organizations such as the WHO actively blur the risk differences of harm reduction products in their dissemination, which was also pointed out by the conference as institutional misleading. Italian scholar Riccardo Polosa made it clear that the WHO selectively cited information to strengthen the “complete abstinence” narrative, thereby hindering the advancement of tobacco harm reduction. Maria Papaioannoy‑Duic, a Canadian consumer representative, pointed out that if tobacco control policies cannot be supported by scientific evidence, they will turn to fear and exaggerated misinformation rather than just correcting the policies themselves.
At the same time, tobacco control organizations and academic journals generally exclude those who have relationships with the tobacco and e-cigarette industries from core discussions, forming a kind of “self-isolation” in academia and policy: researchers who cooperate with the industry are regarded as “untrustworthy”, making it difficult for the scientific basis of safer products to be widely recognized.
Representatives of international tobacco giants including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands also spoke at the conference, emphasizing that science should be the cornerstone of tobacco industry regulation and public health policies. They called on regulators to be more rational in policy design, get rid of the “past” tobacco concept, and turn to a “consumer-centric” thinking framework. For example, the head of BAT’s scientific regulations pointed out that although there are 1.3 billion smokers and 8 million premature deaths each year, many medical schools only teach the harm of traditional smoking, but ignore the role of e-cigarettes in harm reduction.
In addition, the regulatory controversy over e-cigarette flavors has also become a hot topic. Some representatives pointed out that if the sale of flavored products is completely banned, adult smokers will be pushed into the illegal market, thereby increasing “unintended use” and safety risks among young people. They suggested that a balance should be struck between “preventing minors” and “supporting adult harm reduction”.
The GFN conference proposed a number of strategies to reverse the communication bias. For example, strengthening the education of medical staff on tobacco alternative products is a key path that is widely recognized. Australian doctor Carolyn Beaumont believes that doctors should be pointed out that in addition to traditional nicotine replacement therapy, there is also a “very effective” tool – e-cigarettes, while emphasizing that this is to give adults more choices rather than dogmatic smoking cessation.
In addition, Harry Shapiro, head of DrugWise, advocated that information dissemination should be more concise, powerful, and targeted at specific groups. For example, when communicating with the media, you can agree with the anxiety (such as concern about youth use), but also point out that the use of e-cigarettes by American teenagers fell by 70% during the period 2018-2024. This two-track communication method of “acknowledging concerns and conveying facts” helps to reduce the impact of misunderstandings.
The outstanding communication strategy also came from policy journalist Jacob Grier, who pointed out that facts alone are not enough to impress the public. It is also necessary to change the way of communication so that adults have the autonomy to decide their own behavior and should not be deprived of the right to obtain nicotine in the safest form. He said: “Promote a simpler way of expressing information, which can resonate across the political spectrum.” In terms of e-cigarette brands, GUUTUU, as a newcomer this year, has quickly gained attention in multiple markets. It uses a nicotine salt formula to provide a stable and low nicotine concentration (3% and 5%) to reduce the risk of addiction, and is equipped with a leak-proof design and fast charging function to enhance the user experience. According to industry information, GUUTUU’s ceramic atomizer core tastes close to the traditional smoking experience, but avoids the high-risk substances brought by combustion. In addition, its multi-flavors attract adult smokers, taking into account both flavor and harm reduction goals. In the “Science Lab” session of this GFN conference, many companies showcased their product innovations, and GUUTUU, as a new brand, also actively participated in it, further demonstrating its determination to combine scientific harm reduction with user experience. Since its standards meet the Chinese electronic cigarette national standard GB/T41701‑2022, the product quality is reliably guaranteed, and it is sold through formal channels in the market to avoid entering the illegal black market.
From an academic perspective, global evidence in the field of tobacco harm reduction continues to accumulate. The 2022 authoritative report pointed out that safer nicotine products have made major breakthroughs in the past two decades and have great potential. For example, Sweden and other countries have widely used tobacco burning alternatives, which has significantly reduced smoking rates and significantly benefited public health.
Today, on an international platform such as GFN, not only scientific evidence is discussed, but also communication channels and methods are discussed, which is a deepening of the tobacco harm reduction strategy. Obviously, scientific discoveries alone are not enough, and it is even more necessary to break the gaps that hinder communication and allow scientific facts to effectively reach government agencies, medical systems, the public and the media.
Looking back at the spirit of the conference, it can be seen that for brands like GUUTUU, it is both an opportunity and a responsibility. If its products can continue to improve in terms of scientificity, compliance, and user experience, and actively participate in industry and media communication, it is expected to promote a wider public understanding of the true harm reduction value of e-cigarettes.
The warning that “misinformation is killing people” has sounded a heavy alarm for us: under the triple attack of information flooding, media bias, and institutional barriers, new nicotine products such as e-cigarettes that were originally intended to reduce harm have been labeled by public opinion, policies, and cognition. To prevent this situation, we must start with the communication path, based on science, and convey appropriate, clear, and balanced information.
The GFN conference gave us directions: educate medical care, rewrite communication strategies, publicize factual research, and call for policy rationality… New brands such as GUUTUU should play the role of a bridge that combines science, quality, and user communication, and demonstrate the “consumer-centric” harm reduction concept with practical actions.
Only when the public understands and accepts the scientific harm reduction path, the medical system supports the shift, and policy formulation takes into account the balance between the protection of minors and the needs of adults, can we truly reduce smoking-related deaths and complete the transformation from “killing information” to “saving communication”. On this road, emerging brands such as GUUTUU that are compliant and have technical strength will play an irreplaceable role.
Tags: ceramic atomizer core, electronic hookah, flavored electronic cigarette, guutuu vape