Prof. Giovanni Li Volti and Prof. Pasquale Caponnetto, CoEHAR members, joined the 8th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction organized by SCOHRE ( Athens, September 30 to October 1, 2025).
The event dedicated to the dissemination of scientific advances in the field of smoking-related harm research and the sharing of harm reduction strategies is back: the 8th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction – Novel Products, Research & Policy brought together researchers, clinicians, and experts from all over the world to Greece.
Athens was the international stage for presenting research and clinical evidence that can support public health authorities in tackling misinformation and implementing effective, cutting-edge health policies.
Prof. Giovanni Li Volti, CoEHAR Director, and Prof. Pasquale Caponnetto, member and researcher of CoEHAR, spoke at the 8th Summit.
Prof. Giovanni Li Volti took part in the panel “Consumer and healthcare professionals’ misconceptions on the harms of nicotine“.
The panel, organized as a roundtable where speakers alternated in presenting data from international scientific research, shed light on consumers’ beliefs about nicotine, with a focus on tobacco products and combustion-free alternatives.
“It is important that consumers, and the general public, have the tools to make informed decisions about their health. During the panel, I presented data from studies published between 2019 and 2021, which show that a very large segment of the population still believes nicotine to be responsible for smoking-related diseases, primarily cardiovascular ones. Correct information and clinical studies are needed to refute, once and for all and with evidence in hand, the misconceptions that persist in the minds of those who use these products,” explained Prof. Li Volti.
Among the coordinators of the panel, Prof. Konstantinos Farsalinos, researcher, public health expert, and member of the CoEHAR.
The event also featured the contribution of Prof. Pasquale Caponnetto, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Catania, who presented findings from the first Italian study to apply the Delphi consensus methodology in research on smoking-related harm.
“This is the first research work dedicated to three major areas of study in the field of cessation and harm reduction strategies, based on the Delphi consensus methodology,” explained Prof. Caponnetto. “The Delphi method requires multiple rounds of evaluation of a specific topic, through the analysis of anonymous input and feedback provided by a panel of experts—in this case, 20—until consensus is reached. Thanks to this approach, we have addressed the subject as broadly as possible, with the hope that these data and future research may support public authorities in implementing integrated and effective health policies“.
The 8th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction: Novel products, Research & Policy, is organized by SCOHRE, the International Association on Smoking Control & Harm Reduction: in previous Summits it was established that, during the last 30 years, the prevalence of smoking has decreased steadily around the globe. However, as populations have grown, the total number of smokers has increased. There is increasing interest in Tobacco Harm Reduction as a tool to reduce the detrimental consequences of cigarette smoking to the human population of the planet.
For further information, please refer to the event program.
