A hot-mic moment at the G7 summit involving some of the world's most powerful leaders has turned into an unexpected public health success story.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was overheard telling fellow leaders that she had quit smoking, prompting congratulations and light-hearted banter at the summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.
The exchange was captured before formal proceedings began and quickly spread online.
In the footage, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz asks Meloni whether she smoked that morning.
“No,” Meloni replies. “Since the first of May.”
The comment drew an immediate reaction from those in her group, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who asked: “Do you have a patch?”, while grabbing his own arm, referring to nicotine replacement therapy.
European Council President Antonio Costa, who was part of the group, then shared his own milestone, saying he gave up smoking 21 years ago.
The candid moment soon went viral and caught the attention of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, who posted the clip on X, congratulating Meloni “on this important decision”.
Ghebreyesus then shared a WHO toolkit on how to quit smoking.
The exchange also attracted attention because of Meloni's previous comments about smoking.
Last year, during the Summit for Peace in Egypt's Sharm El Sheikh, she was overheard joking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that giving up cigarettes might make her want to “kill someone”.
During the light-hearted interaction, Erdogan was heard telling Meloni he wanted her to stop smoking.
“I know, I know,” Meloni replied. “I don’t want to kill someone.”
Smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide. According to the WHO, tobacco kills more than eight million people each year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.
