The international conference was attended by Dmitry Zhukov, Executive Director of Qazspirits, Chief Coordinator for Combating Counterfeiting in the Republic of Kazakhstan of Global Beverages Holding Sayan Kunapyanov, Managing Director – Director of the Department of Agro-Industrial Complex and Food Industry of NCE “Atameken” Yerken Naurzbekov.

A significant event was the participation in the conference of representatives of the medical and scientific community from around the world. Scientists, doctors and experts, including Dr. Carolyn Beaumont (Australia), Dr. Dillon Human (Sweden), Executive Director of We are innovation Federico Fernandez (Spain) and others, shared with the guests of the conference progressive methods of harm reduction from tobacco consumption.

During their speeches, the participants of the event revealed the topic of the effect of nicotine on the human body, and also told in detail what a potential ban on vaping in Kazakhstan could lead to. Today, this topic is very relevant – both for consumers of products and for third-party observers. According to Dmitry Zhukov, the official ban of alternative smoking devices in our country can lead to the same consequences that were observed in the United States after the introduction of prohibition in the 20-30s of the last century. The Speaker is confident that radical measures will inevitably lead to a surge in the activity of people involved in smuggling.

“One of the authors of this law, Senator John Rockefeller, at one time found the strength to admit the mistakes of the initiators of this measure and the fallacy of a total ban in principle. In his book, he outlined the misconceptions of those who advocated the ban, listed the negative consequences that significantly outweighed all the advantages of reducing use, and suggested alternatives that are still used by state authorities. The senator’s main message is “To govern, not to prohibit.”

Unfortunately, organized crime and corruption generated by fourteen years of prohibition have not been eradicated to this day. These mistakes have since been repeated by many countries. It is worth asking the question: will we step on the same rake in the case of alternative nicotine products,” said the executive director of the Qazspirits.      

Dmitry Zhukov’s concerns are shared by Dr. Dillon Human from Sweden, who shared interesting statistical information during the meeting and talked about his country’s achievements in reducing smoking mortality. According to him, vapes are at least 95% less harmful than regular cigarettes.

Dr. Human noted that alternative nicotine products today are a salvation from deadly diseases for millions of people around the planet. In Sweden, less than 5% of the population currently smoke cigarettes, which was also facilitated by the soft regulation of the sale of alternative nicotine products. The introduction of the Swedish model in our country, according to Dr. Human, will help save 160 thousand lives in the next 35-40 years.

Tim Andrews, Director of Consumer Relations at Tholos Foundation, spoke about scientific research that speaks in favor of alternative ways of consuming nicotine-containing products. According to him, in the long term, it is possible to save millions of people if there are no bans on the consumption of nicotine-containing products of a new generation.

“Tobacco harm reduction is not only a political and economic issue, it is a moral issue, because we are talking about saving lives. About 20% of the population smokes in Kazakhstan today. Some smokers get cancer, which eventually lead to death. I got acquainted with the Kazakh materials about vaping and was amazed at the volume of misinformation. It has been scientifically proven that these products can play a significant role in saving lives. I believe that we should set a goal not to ban something, but to reduce risks and help people save their lives.

Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted and it has been proven that a person cannot get cancer directly from nicotine. The chemical elements that make up cigarettes cause serious harm. For several decades now, there have been relatively harmless ways of consuming nicotine in the world. New technologies allow people to inhale nicotine using water vapor, not smoke. In other words, thousands of harmful elements do not enter the body. Thus, we can say that vaping is one of the ways to reduce the harm caused to health as a result of smoking,” explained Tim Andrews.

The representative of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken” Erken Naurzbekov, in turn, said about the possibility of chaos if proper regulation of new products containing nicotine is not ensured.

“The technical regulations regulate traditional tobacco products – cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars and others, but do not cover new types of products. As part of the work of the EAEU, in particular on the part of one of its members – the Republic of Armenia, a lot of work is being done to prepare a draft of a new technical regulation aimed at regulating new nicotine-containing products. We are actively involved in this work and with our colleagues we consider it necessary to establish certain regulation in this area in order to legally and civilize the turnover of these products in the EAEU countries.

It is worth noting that representatives of not all states are pragmatic about understanding the issue of regulating new products that include nicotine. We, a public organization that unites all categories of business, see the need to study and regulate new products. Without regulation, the vaping market can turn into chaos,” Yerken Naurzbekov expressed his opinion.

We should also add that during the international conference, the participants discussed how the fight against counterfeit tobacco, alcohol products, as well as illegal trade turnover of products is conducted in our country.