Pretoria - It is about life and death; to say how do we reduce the harm of things that are bad for us, but that we do despite that.
So said Linda Nordling, who moderated a discussion on harm reduction at the Science Forum South Africa on Wednesday at the CSIR.
Harm reduction refers to policies, programmes and practices that aim to reduce harms associated with the use of psychoactive drugs in people unable or unwilling to stop.
Harm reduction is particularly controversial, according to Sir Peter Gluckman - a paediatrician and science adviser to the New Zealand Prime Minister - as it charters the treacherous territory between government policy and public choice.
And it becomes more complex, he added, as it tries to balance science and policy - with science often being used as a “proxy” for value-based beliefs.
Gluckman is the chairman of a World Health Organisation commission to end childhood obesity.
“Childhood obesity is clearly urgent and a problem but there are different perspectives on it and whose fault it really is. There is no magic bullet (in tackling the issue), it intersects with many other interests - food security, commercial interests etc and governments don’t like dealing with obesity as it seems like they’re invading on private choice.”
The commission is set to release a report on childhood obesity in January.
It will delve into issues such as the introduction of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages as well as recommendations on the participatory role the food industry could have in addressing it.
On the case of e-cigarettes - thought of as being a “disruptive technology” by some - being used to lower the number of people smoking tobacco, he said: “E-cigarettes may have been an effective route to reduce cigarette use in established smokers but it may be that to allow (it) would promote teenage use and be a gateway to smoking.”
Pretoria News
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