Experts gathered at a recent conference organized by the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction pointed out that the priority was to accept adequate, proven and scientifically based less harmful alternatives.
“People who use tobacco products also have the right to protect their health. The harm reduction principle also reduces the state’s funds for the health care system, transforms the tobacco industry from burning to switching to heating, and puts people and their quality of life in the centre. That is why it is important to be open to the harm reduction principle”, said Gerry Stimson, a British university professor and longtime adviser on addiction treatment to the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the World Bank and many governments.
The principle of harm reduction is an increasingly mentioned option that sees alternatives to classic cigarettes as great untapped potential in public health. This is supported by the fact that despite efforts to reduce the number of smokers, 1.1 billion people still consume traditional cigarettes in the world and that number is expected to grow in the coming years.
Experts gathered at the recent conference organized by the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction pointed out that the priority is to accept adequate, proven and scientifically based less harmful alternatives. The users themselves have already turned to these alternatives, so today globally about 100 million people use them. However, the conference highlighted that fact-based information and regulations were necessary to support a greater shift to these products.
“Consistency in the results of dozens of studies comparing cigarettes and the consumption of less harmful alternatives proves that different types of alternatives are much less harmful than traditional cigarettes,” said David Nutt, an addiction expert and former professor at the University of Bristol, Department of Psychopharmacology. Nutt further states what is the key to success in terms of less harmful alternatives: “People enjoy nicotine, but when tobacco burns, it produces smoke and the compounds found in it are the most harmful to the body, while with tobacco alternatives, such as smokeless products, the emission of harmful substances is significantly lower.”
“We need to focus on the benefits of less harmful alternatives, instead of being guided by misinformation, false science and misleading data that are deceiving. Legislation needs to categorize tobacco products according to the risk they carry”
Clive Bates, former director of the British initiative ‘Smoking and Health’, adviser to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a United Nations official, said: “We need to focus on the benefits of less harmful alternatives, instead of being guided by misinformation, false science and misleading data that are deceiving. Legislation needs to categorize tobacco products according to the risk they carry. ”
The recent decision made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize IQOS, a device that heats rather than burns tobacco, thus emitting significantly fewer harmful and potentially harmful substances than conventional cigarette smoke, as a modified risk product, shows that the use of this alternative is expected to benefit the health of the population. The Philip Morris Company has been developing IQOS for years, and extensive scientific evidence has confirmed that a complete transition to using IQOS reduces the harmful impact on the health of users.
Harry Shapiro, an expert with decades of experience, also pointed out that the availability of proven alternatives was a great chance for public health that should be used as soon as possible. “It took 60 years for cigarettes to replace the previous ways of consuming tobacco and nicotine. We don’t have 60 years to wait for less harmful alternatives to replace cigarettes,” he said.