On November 15, Knowledge-Action-Change (KAC), a public health group in the United Kingdom, published its latest Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction report.
Titled “The Right Side of History,” it outlines both the origins of THR and the current obstacles to reducing smoking-related deaths across the globe.
“Tobacco harm reduction offers us an historic opportunity. We must not let it slip away.”
“A failure to recognize and exploit the potential of tobacco harm reduction will mean millions more avoidable deaths each year, and contribute to an ever-growing burden of disease that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable countries and communities,” Gerry Stimson, the founder and director of KAC, said in a press statement. “Tobacco control’s lack of evolution, despite its very limited gains, means that many aspirational targets to achieve smoke-free status by 2030 or within the next generation are no more likely to be met than former aspirations for a drug-free world. Tobacco harm reduction offers us an historic opportunity. We must not let it slip away.”
In more than 100 pages, the paper details the innovation of safer nicotine products (SNPs) over the past 20 or so years, charting how THR—in its guises of vapes, smokeless tobacco options and heated tobacco products, all of which offer nicotine in far less harmful forms than cigarettes—became a reality for millions and a potential lifesaver for many millions more. And it reflects on how many public health authorities now oppose a chance to make combustible cigarettes obsolete—in part because of entrenched disdain for the industry that creates both cigarettes and some of these safer options.
Alex Norcia – Filter – 2022-11-16.
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