The CNCT awarded a prize by the WHO

On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, the National Committee Against Smoking received the World No Tobacco Day Award 2026, The CNCT (National Committee Against Tobacco) is awarding a distinction from the WHO that recognizes individuals and organizations that have contributed to the fight against tobacco use. The CNCT reiterates the need for all public health stakeholders to remain vigilant, given the rapid transformation of the tobacco and nicotine product market.[1].

All of the CNCT's actions were rewarded.

This award recognizes all the work carried out by the CNCT in recent years. In particular, the nomination was justified by the WHO for the organization's role in protecting public policies from tobacco industry interference, combating the marketing strategies deployed by the tobacco and nicotine industry, its legal monitoring missions, its advocacy efforts, and its Generation Without Tobacco information platform. In its statement, the CNCT emphasized the collective nature of the organization, whose work is carried out jointly by permanent staff, the NGO's board members, volunteers, scientific and legal experts, and numerous institutional and non-profit partners.

Pioneering expertise on the commercial determinants of health

For nearly 160 years, the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) has been working to prevent the health, social, environmental, and economic consequences of tobacco use and to advocate for ambitious public policies in the face of influence strategies employed by the tobacco and nicotine industry. Understanding tobacco use as an "industrial epidemic," the CNCT develops expertise that is valuable to policymakers for implementing effective, evidence-based public health policies, in accordance with the provisions of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). As part of the commercial determinants of health, the CNCT's pioneering approach is also useful in combating other economic sectors whose activities are recognized as harmful to public health (alcohol, processed foods, hydrocarbons, etc.).

Constant vigilance is necessary

This award comes at a time when France has recorded a significant decline in tobacco consumption: in 2024, 18.2% of adults reported being regular smokers, compared to 23.1% in 2023, a decrease of nearly five percentage points in one year. However, given the rapid evolution of the tobacco market and the continued aggressive strategies employed by this sector to maintain the tobacco and nicotine epidemic, the actions undertaken by the CNCT (National Committee Against Tobacco), as well as those carried out by all civil society actors, remain necessary. As the CNCT reiterates in a press release: "Attempts to pressure, discredit, or weaken public health actors remain a constant reality," as evidenced by a recent report published by FIVAPE (French Federation of Associations for the Fight Against Tobacco), which seeks to portray the approach of the CNCT and its Tobacco-Free Generation platform as dogmatic and biased.[2].

©Generation Without Tobacco

FT

[1] National Committee against Smoking, The CNCT receives the World No Tobacco Day Award 2026 from the World Health Organization, 26/05/2026, (accessed the same day)

[2] FIVAPE, World No Tobacco Day: Enough with the misinformation about vaping!, 26/05/2026, (accessed the same day)