WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Ministerial Roundtable 'The new nicotine challenge: preventing a new wave of youth addiction' – 17 November 2025

Your Excellency Frank Vandenbroucke, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health of Belgium,

Ministers, Heads of Delegation, dear colleagues and friends,

I thank Belgium for organizing this discussion, and for its leadership in drawing attention to the growing threat of the "new nicotine challenge".

Last week, one of the international schools here in Geneva - the school that two of my children attended - sent a message to parents of children in year 9, who are aged 13 and 14.

It said the school suspects that a significant number of year 9 students may be vaping in the school bathrooms.

The companies that make e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches want us to believe that they are harm reduction products.

Marketing addictive, toxic products to teenagers who are not already tobacco users with bright colours, sweet flavours and social media influencers is not harm reduction, it's harm production.

This is the reality we face: schools are the new frontline in the war against tobacco and nicotine, where companies are actively recruiting a new generation of addicts.

The school said in its email to parents that vaping is a trend that they hope will fade soon.

WHO shares the school's deep concern about the rapid increase in vaping among young people.

We wish we could share their hope that this trend will fade, but unfortunately, it shows no signs of doing so.

The latest WHO Global Report on tobacco use, released last month, estimates that there are nearly 15 million adolescents globally using e-cigarettes.

The report also shows that in 63 countries from which data are available, the prevalence of vaping among adolescents is on average nine times higher than among adults.

I'm pleased that at this COP, the Parties will consider an agenda item on measures to prevent nicotine addiction, and to protect those measures from the tobacco industry's narrative of "harm reduction".

Let's be clear: the companies that make these products are not motivated by harm reduction or public health. They are motivated by one thing and one thing only: generating gigantic profits for their shareholders - and we all know that.

In one sense, the rise of e-cigarettes and other newer nicotine products is due to the success of the WHO FCTC.

Since it took effect twenty years ago, tobacco use has declined by one third globally, driving tobacco companies to develop new products to attract new customers.

Although e-cigarettes are often promoted as safer alternatives to conventional tobacco products, there is no evidence of their net benefit for public health, and mounting evidence of their harm.

WHO recommends that all countries regulate nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and smokeless tobacco at least as strongly as they regulate conventional tobacco products.

Several countries have prohibited these products. Those that have not should use strict controls on flavours, packaging, marketing and sales, protections against industry interference, and enforcement of age restrictions.

We also urge governments to expand support for proven cessation methods, including counselling and approved nicotine-replacement therapies.

Last year, WHO issued new clinical treatment guidelines for tobacco cessation, and we encourage all countries to implement those guidelines.

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines has also been updated regularly to include proven, safe and effective cessation therapies.

My thanks once again to Deputy Prime Minister Vandenbroucke and Belgium for its leadership in this area.

Together, we can stop another generation from being trapped in addiction and protect the gains we have made in tobacco control.

Thank you.