International health policy experts are calling for less stringent regulations on novel nicotine products like heated tobacco, oral nicotine and vapes, arguing they pose significantly lower risks than conventional cigarettes and could help millions of smokers quit.
The experts criticize the current “one-size-fits-all” approach promoted by the World Health Organization, or WHO, and highlight successful harm reduction policies in countries like Japan and Sweden where safer alternatives have led to declining smoking rates.
Dr. Riccardo Polosa, professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Catania and founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction, or CoEHAR, in Italy, said: “Beyond advocating the actions like increasing tobacco taxes, implementing public smoking bans, promoting accessible cessation programs for all, these tobacco control policies should also take into account the integration of the principle of risk reduction through the promotion of non-combustible alternative products for adult smokers. You see this happening already in places like Japan, Norway, Sweden, England and Iceland.”
Professor David Sweanor, chairperson of the advisory board of the Center for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, echoed this sentiment, arguing that regulations on vapes, heated tobacco, oral nicotine products and other smoke-free alternatives shouldn’t be as strict as those for cigarettes.
The annual reviews by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in the UK have consistently shown that novel tobacco products carry significantly lower risks than smoking.
Sweanor, the first lawyer in the world to work full-time on policy measures to reduce the harm from cigarette smoking, said if the same stringent regulations are imposed on novel products, far fewer people can be expected to attempt to switch away from cigarettes.
