Global Forum on Nicotine

Note: The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) should not be confused with the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum (GTNF), an annual tobacco industry event.

Background

The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) is an event for those with an interest in newer nicotine and tobacco products, and ‘tobacco harm reduction’. The GFN website states that “GFN examines the rapidly developing science in relation to nicotine and its use, including policy and regulatory responses.”¹

The event is described by its organizers as:²

“a platform to share knowledge and discuss both the opportunities and challenges of safer nicotine use. The conference is and has always been open to everyone with a stake in tobacco harm reduction – including consumers, policymakers, regulators, scientists, researchers, and manufacturers.”

It has been held annually since 2014, usually in mid-June in Warsaw, Poland. The 2020 conference took place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic,³ while the 2021 conference took place in Liverpool, England.⁴ Since the COVID 19 pandemic, participates have the option to join either in person or online.²

The event features presentations, discussion panels, a film festival, and workshops.² The theme for the 2025 event is “Challenging Perceptions – Effective Communication for Tobacco Harm Reduction”.⁵

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

The GFN declares that it does not accept tobacco industry funding. The conference website states that it: “is funded by registration fees and does not receive any sponsorship from manufacturers, distributors or retailers of nicotine products including pharmaceutical, vaping (e-cigarette) and tobacco companies.”¹⁶

Speakers

By supporting and facilitating dialogue with the tobacco industry, the GFN event has provided a platform for the tobacco industry to promote its role in tobacco harm reduction and its own products.⁷ While initially GFN was attended by a number of representatives from tobacco control organisations, e-cigarette producers and those who promote the role of commercial nicotine products, increasingly it has become a forum for tobacco companies and linked organisations.²⁴⁸⁹

GFN is also linked to the industry-funded ISoNTech event which is held alongside GFN (see below)

In 2024 GFN introduced ‘Science Lab’ sessions. In the first session, Ian Jones, Vice President of the Research and Development (R&D) Scientific Product Assessment Center at Japan Tobacco International (JTI), hosted the session alongside other speakers, including employees from other transnational tobacco companies (TTCs).²

GFN has featured contributions from:

Philip Morris International

2025: Three senior PMI employees participated: Vice president of Global Scientific Engagement hosted Science Lab, Senior Advisor on US regulation spoke on flavours, and Vice President International Communications and Engagements was a panellist in a session called “Media, misinformation and public health”.¹⁰

2024: Vice president of Global Scientific Engagement, was a panellist in a discussion on “Rating the evidence – good and bad science.”¹¹

2023: Global Head of Regulatory Policy, participated as speaker in a workshop on global regulation.¹²

2017: Two presentations on heated tobacco products (HTPs) by Vice President Reduced Risk Products Corporate Affairs, and Manager Reduced Risk Products.⁷¹³¹⁴

2015: Vice President of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, leading PMI’s global regulatory approval and marketing authorization, participated in a session on science and policy.¹⁵

Japan Tobacco International

2025: Science Engagement Director participated in two Science Lab sessions, hosting and presenting.¹⁰

2024: Vice President of the Research and Development (R&D) Scientific Product Assessment Center hosted the first Science Lab session. Science Engagement Director and SRA Scientific Advocacy Manager shared presentation slides about the indoor air quality of HTPs.¹¹

Altria

2025: Two senior Altria employees participated: Director of Regulatory Sciences hosted workshops titled “Can We Stop Discussing And Focus On Action? – Delphi Approach To Correct Nicotine And Relative Risk Misperceptions” and Senior Director, Population Science presented in a session on flavours.¹⁰

2018: Altria presented on the “role of smokeless tobacco in harm reduction”.¹⁶ JUUL Labs (part-owned by Altria at the time) also presented.⁴⁸

British American Tobacco

2025: BAT employees participated: Group Head of Life Sciences presented in Science Lab sessions, Global Medical Safety Officer spoke at a workshop on tobacco harm reduction, and Head of Scientific Regulation participated in session on “Evaluating WHO Tobacco Harm Reduction Science”, and hosting one ¹⁰¹⁷

2024: Science Engagement Specialist, presented on “Over/Misinterpretation Of The Precautionary Principle In Relation To Safer Nicotine.”¹¹

2023: Head of Scientific Regulatory Engagement, panellist in the discussion: “Ten Years of Science: What Have We Learned?” Advocated for HTPs, citing BAT research.¹²

2021/2022: Four submissions on “New Category Products”, HTPs and an “Introduction to Tobacco Harm Reduction” by Head of Global Regulatory Insights and Foresights and science engagement specialist .⁴⁸

2017: BAT’s Scientific Director David O’Reilly, panellist in “Nicotine Futures: the tobacco industry and public health”⁷¹⁸ Sudhanshu Patwardhan presented on “consumer insights and product implications”.¹⁶ (See also the Centre for Health Research and Education (CHRE) set up by Patwardhan after leaving BAT.)

2016: Chief Scientific Officer and Group Head of Scientific Product Stewardship, Christopher J. Proctor, participated in panel discussion “Evidence, Accountability, Transparency – whose science counts?”.¹⁹

Imperial Brands

2025: Scientific Affairs and Behavioural Sciences and Global Head of Harm Reduction & Engagement presented on “Tobacco Harm Reduction Science” and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer on “Innovation and Regulation” ¹⁰

2023 and 2024: Group Science & Regulatory Affairs Director, panellist in “Tobacco harm reduction – the next decade” and “Legislation and regulation – health and economic consequences”.¹²¹¹²⁰

2021: A presentation by Heated Tobacco Science Manager about “PULZE: State of the Heated Tobacco Science”.²¹²²²³

Swedish Match

2025: Cecilia Kindstrand‑Isaksson, Director Public Affairs for Swedish Match representing PMI, was a panellist in a session called “Nicotine pouches – What’s the real story?” ¹⁰

2016 and 2017: Director Public Affairs at Swedish Match (acquired by PMI in 2022), presentation criticising EU tobacco regulation that bans snus sales.⁷²⁴¹⁹

Links to FSFW/GAES

The GFN is organised by Global Forum on Nicotine Limited,²⁵ which was known as KAC Communications until November 2024.²⁶ This is registered as a legally separate entity from Knowledge-Action-Change (K-A-C).²⁷²⁸ K-A-C is funded by Global Action to End Smoking (GAES), formerly known as the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), a grant-giving nonprofit foundation funded entirely by Philip Morris International (PMI).

In recent GFN event programmes, KAC Communications has been described as a “sister company” of K-A-C.²⁹³⁰³¹ However, in the earlier GFN conferences, the distinction between K-A-C and KAC Communications is less clear. The programme for the first event in 2014 states clearly that the organiser was K-A-C,³² and K-A-C branding appears on the programmes for the GFN 2016 and 2017.³³³⁴

Moreover, while Global Forum on Nicotine Limited and K-A-C are registered as legally separate entities, they are incorporated at the same London address,²⁷²⁸ and they share the same directors. Of the five people listed as current or former directors of Global Forum on Nicotine Limited, four have also been listed as directors of K-A-C, all of whom have been directors of both companies at the same time.²⁷²⁸

FSFW/GAES has provided a number of grants to individuals and organisations who are actively engaged with GFN, including:²³⁵³⁶

• Cliff Douglas, served president and CEO of GAES until June 2025, delivered a keynote address in 2024 titled “Bridging the Divide: Taking Global Action to End Smoking”
• Derek Yach, founder and president of FSFW until October 2021, gave the keynote address at the 2015 event
• GFN organiser Knowledge-Action-Change (K-A-C) has received various grants from the Foundation to carry out promotional events and commission reports
• Dr Rajesh Sharan, who sits on the GFN organising committee, is a trustee of an organisation that has received funding to set up a Centre of Excellence in India
• Dr Marewa Glover, who sits on the GFN organising committee, runs a company which received funding to set up a Centre of Excellence in New Zealand
• Ricardo Polosa is one of three members of the University of Catania involved with the GFN. A spin off from the Italian university, headed by Polosa, has received funding from FSFW/GAES to set up a Centre of Excellence

Scholarship Programme

K-A-C and the GFN jointly launched a Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme (THRSP) in 2018, which was sponsored by FSFW.³⁷ The programme has continued every year since, with funding solely from FSFW/GAES.^38394041

K-A-C state that the sponsorship programme was launched with five aims³⁸:

• Increase research and practice capacity in tobacco harm reduction
• Expand the evidence-base for new technologies and products, which contribute to reducing smoking and improving both individual and population health
• Introduce new thinkers, new ideas and new methods to tobacco harm reduction
• Improve risk communication, through the use of social media and new technologies Disseminate information, particularly to isolated groups and communities
• Target locations and populations where current activities and resources are limited, especially in low and middle-income countries where the need to build capacity is greatest

The scholarship Prospectus states:

“Despite there being strong evidence for the effectiveness of a THR [tobacco harm reduction] approach, public understanding of the evidence base and its implications for both policy and personal health choices is limited. This is often not helped by sensationalist and inaccurate reporting in the media…The scholarship programme aims to redress this imbalance”⁴²

A number of the scholarship winners have appeared on panels at GFN.⁶⁴⁸²

Media Partners

GFN Ltd (previously K-A-C Communications) produces GFN•TV.¹

The GFN website list of media partners includes the publication Filter, which is owned by the industry-funded Influence Foundation.⁴³

Aaron Biebert curates the GFN film festival. His company was commissioned to launch FSFW.⁴⁴

Programme Committee

Robyn Gougelet, Senior Associate at consultancy Pinney Associates, was a member of the GFN 2018 and 2019 Programme Committee.³⁶⁴⁵ BAT subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) paid Pinney Associates for tobacco harm reduction consultancy from 2015 to 2019.⁴⁶⁴⁷

Since October 2024, it has also consulted for PMI.

• See Pinney Associates for more details.

ISoNTech

Since 2017 the GFN has taken place alongside the International Symposium on Nicotine Technology (ISoNTech),⁴⁸ which is part-funded by tobacco companies. ISoNTech is a parallel event for the tobacco and nicotine industries to showcase their newer products, and promote them to GFN attendees who can attend ISoNTech for free, and have the opportunity to engage in informal discussions with industry representatives.⁴⁹

ISoNTech and GFN are presented as two separate events. However, the registrant of the ISoNTech domain in 2018 was given as K-A-C,⁵⁰ while the same year KAC Communications branding appeared on the ISoNTech website.⁵¹ In late 2024, the terms and conditions on the ISoNTech website indicated that the organiser of ISoNTech was K-A-C,⁵² though by March 2025 this had been amended to Global Forum on Nicotine Limited (formerly KAC Communications).⁵³

In 2020, it was reported that Benjamin Petrzilka, external affairs manager at BAT Switzerland, was actively promoting the forum to journalists, claiming that this is the only international conference to focus on the role of “reduced risk” nicotine products.⁵⁴

At ISoNTech 2024, Mattia De Dominicis and Paul Ellis from Imperial Brands positioned the company as a major contributor to public health by highlighting the potential benefits of Imperial’s newer products.³⁵ Although ISoNTech does not appear in the official GFN 2025 event programme ⁵⁵ the ISoNTech website confirms that the event was held alongside GFN 2025.⁴⁹. The website for ISoNTech in 2025 stated: “Following the success of ISoNTech during #GFN17, #GFN18, #GFN19 and #GFN22, #GFN23, and #GFN24, the organisers are delighted to offer similar opportunities alongside #GFN25. Developers, manufacturers and distributors are invited to demonstrate new products and discuss their design and development.”⁴⁹

Image 1: ISoNTech floorplan 13 June 2024.⁵⁶

Image 1 shows the ISoNTech Floorplan from 13 June 2024, which illustrates that the exhibition area was occupied by multinational tobacco corporations, notably PMI, BAT, JTI, and Imperial Brands. The size and arrangement of the exhibition stands on the floorplan imply that each tobacco company paid for the £7000 ISoNTech Premium package. Premium packages offered companies a speaker slot on the main stage, a larger exhibition stand, and two registrations to GFN. Other companies with ISoNTech exhibition stands included RJ Reynolds (owned by BAT) and Swedish Match.⁵⁷ A similar arrangement was advertised in 2022, with ISoNTech’s website promising clients that “the exhibition stand will be displayed throughout GFN22”.⁴⁸

Speakers and Panellists

Among the most frequent keynote speakers at GFN events are:

• Alex Wodak, founder and board member of Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA)
• Delon Human, founder of Health Diplomats
• Gerry Stimson, co-founder of Knowledge-Action-Change (K-A-C)
• Helen Redmond, writer and editor for Filter magazine, which is owned by The Influence Foundation
• Marewa Glover, director of the Centre for Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty and Smoking (COREISS)
• Martin Cullip, pro-tobacco blogger
• Riccardo Polosa, founder of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of HArm Reduction (CoEHAR)

A full list of speakers and panellists for each annual GFN event is available on its own page:

• Global Forum on Nicotine 2025
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2024
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2023
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2022
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2021
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2020
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2019
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2018
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2017
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2016
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2015
• Global Forum on Nicotine 2014

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• Factasia
• Harm Reduction
• Gerry Stimson
• Pinney Associates
• Martin Cullip
• Global Action to End Smoking
• Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Grantees

TCRG Research

• Understanding the emergence of the tobacco industry’s use of the term tobacco harm reduction in order to inform public health policy, S. Peeters, A. Gilmore, Tobacco Control, 2015,24(2):182-189
• “Keep it a secret”: Leaked Documents Suggest Philip Morris International, and Its Japanese Affiliate, Continue to Exploit Science for Profit, S. Braznell, L. Laurence, I. Fitzpatrick, A. B. Glimore, Nicotine and Tobacco research, 2024, XX, 1–11