A non-profit organization promoting harm reduction among Filipino smokers urged governments to also consider opening opportunities for alternatives to cigarettes.
Quit For Good, the US group, said intensified campaign on preventing the youth from consuming nicotine products is laudable but said millions of adult smokers should also get help.
"The US Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products should strike a balance between protecting the youth while giving adult smokers access to far less harmful, smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes such as vapes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches," Dr. Lorenzo Mata Jr., president of Quit for Good, said.
11% Americans still smoke
Mata issued the statement in response to the speech of CTP director Dr. Brian King at the recent Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum in Seoul, South Korea that despite considerable progress in reducing smoking in the US, about 11.5 percent of US adults continue to use combustible cigarettes.
"We're now down to 11.5 percent among US adults, which is remarkable, and I hope that we continue to see those declines, given that we do know that combustible smoking is responsible for the overwhelming burden of death and disease from tobacco," King said.
Dr. King confirmed, however, that the US government continues to spend a considerable amount or at $600 billion a year to address the direct healthcare costs and lost productivity because of smoking.
