Safer nicotine products

Warsaw, Poland – Leading experts on nicotine, tobacco-related disease, public health, policymaking, science and technology were joined by users of so-called “safer nicotine products” such as electronic cigarettes or vapes, oral tobaccos such as Swedish snus, and ‘heat-not-burn’ tobacco products, in calling on governments and regulators to stop ignoring the growing body of scientific evidence pointing to such products as a safe alternative to combustible tobacco.

While it has become a foregone conclusion that smoking cigarettes is bad for the health, there are some governments and regulating bodies which either ban the use of safer nicotine products outright or tax them just like they would for combustible tobacco, instead of encouraging their use.

This despite overwhelming scientific evidence showing that it is the burning of cigarettes that is harmful, not only for the user, but also for those around them. Since harm reduction products do not burn and, therefore, do not produce harmful smoke, they should be encouraged as a way of quitting smoking for those who want to quit and as a safe way of getting nicotine for those who do not want to quit.

In the Philippines, the government has banned smoking tobacco products in public places nationwide. While the definition of smoking and tobacco products under Executive Order no. 26, signed by President Duterte in 2017, does not include e-cigarettes, the fact that it does not specifically exclude new age nicotine delivery systems. Since there are no specific regulations covering the new products, has led local government units treat them just like combustible tobacco and opt to ban them.

Last June 13, hundreds of experts and advocates from across the globe gathered in Warsaw for the 6th annual Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) which focused on the role of safer nicotine products in helping people switch from smoking.

E-cigarettes are estimated to be 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes. Use of HNB products in Japan has seen cigarette sales fall by 27 percent in two years, while in Sweden, snus reduced smoking-related mortality to the lowest in the European Union.

According to Gerry Stimson, emeritus professor at Imperial College London, while cigarettes are a dirty mechanism of consuming nicotine, there is no combustion and therefore, no smoke in products such as e-cigarettes, snus, and HNB products.

Stimson noted that death due to smoking cigarettes has become a public health emergency on a global scale it is, therefore, essential that people have access to and are positively encouraged to switch to safer nicotine products.

For his part, David Sweanor, advisory board chair at the Centere for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, said that if such progress is being made inspite of poor regulation, bad quality information, and lack of incentives to switch away from cigarettes, imagine what could be achieved if the true public health potential of safer nicotine products was universally embraced.

Fiona Pattena, a member of the Victorian Parliament’s Legislative Council, lamented the fact that in Australia, she is considered a criminal because she uses vape and she does not have a prescription to access safer nicotine products. Yet, she does not need one to buy cigarettes.

But even if she does get a prescription, Pattena said she still has to go online and order a product from overseas with no assurance of quality or safety. She described the situation as ridiculous, arguing it is those who prevent smokers from trying safer nicotine products who should be considered the criminals.

Dr. Riccardo Polosa, director of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction at the University of Catania, Italy, cited studies which show that people who switch away from cigarettes to exclusively non-combustible nicotine products experience the same health benefits as people who quit smoking.
In the forum, experts suggest that if safer nicotine products are to be taxed, the tax rate must be proportional to the harm, instead of using taxation as a means of increasing revenues.

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