Panel 5 Safer nicotine: human rights and legal challenges
Introductory Videos
Session Video
Host
Jagannath Sarangapani


Jagannath Sarangapani
- Host
- India
Jagannath (Jaggi) Sarangapani is a passionate independent tobacco harm reduction advocate from India and a former member of the Association of Vapers India (AVI). After smoking 40 cigarettes a day for 20 years, he quit through vaping almost a decade ago and has remained smoke-free since. He strongly believes smokers should have access to safer alternatives and the right to remain smoke-free. An avid fitness enthusiast and trekking lover, Jagannath maintains an active lifestyle alongside his advocacy work. A seasoned industrialist, he has spent over 30 years managing his family business, a pioneer in cellular plastics and insulated panels in India. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and is also an alumnus of Columbia Business School.
Speaker
Tomás O'Gorman


Tomás O'Gorman
- Speaker
- Mexico
Tomás O'Gorman is a Mexican lawyer and teaches Corporation Law and Successions Law at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. An ex-smoker and vaper since 2016, he is co-founder of "Pro-Vapeo Mexico", a Mexican consumer association (registered in 2017), that advocates for tobacco harm reduction and non- combustible alternatives. He is a member of INNCO’s Board.
Speaker
Gerry Stimson


Gerry Stimson
- Speaker
- United Kingdom
Professor Gerry Stimson is a leading advocate for tobacco harm reduction. A public health social scientist, with over 50 years’ experience of research and advocacy, he was one of the founders of harm reduction in the 1990s, helping to develop and evaluate harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. Gerry has advised the UK Government, WHO, UNAIDS, UNODC, the World Bank and numerous governments around the world on issues relating to drugs, HIV infection and AIDS, and alcohol. He has also published over 220 scientific publications and several books. He is a co-founder of the Global Forum on Nicotine. Gerry is advisor to the Knowledge•Action•Change projects on tobacco harm reduction including the Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme and the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction project. He is Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London.
Speaker
Fiona Patten


Fiona Patten
- Speaker
- Australia
Fiona Patten was a member of the Victorian parliament from 2014 to 2022. She campaigned on harm reduction policies for 30 years and ran the Australian adult industry association (Eros) for 20 years. She initiated and delivered reforms including voluntary assisted dying, abortion law reform, the decriminalisation of sex work and drug law reform. Since leaving parliament she has continued to work on social reform issues including criminal justice reform, regulating adult use of cannabis, access to medicinal cannabis, drug harm reduction including for tobacco, and a greater separation of church and state. She currently sits on a variety of health and justice boards. Fiona is passionate about tobacco harm reduction and constantly disappointed with her own country’s approach to it. In 2018 she published her autobiography -‘Sex, Drugs and the Electoral Roll’. She is the owner of a registered wildlife sanctuary.
Speaker
David Sweanor


David Sweanor
- Speaker
- Canada
David Sweanor is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa and has been actively involved in tobacco and health policy issues since the beginning of the 1980s. He has worked globally, and with numerous groups, including the International Union Against Cancer, World Health Organization, World Bank and the Pan American Health Organization and played a key role in achieving many global precedents in tobacco policy. He currently focuses much of his tobacco and nicotine related efforts on risk reduction strategies.