Fifty-three tobacco research and policy experts from 15 countries today endorsed many of the tobacco harm reduction principles that I have advocated for 20 years. In a widely publicized open letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organization, they declared:

 Tobacco harm reduction is part of the solution, not part of the problem. It could make a significant contribution to reducing the global burden of non-communicable diseases caused by smoking, and do so much faster than conventional strategies. If regulators treat low-risk nicotine products as traditional tobacco products and seek to reduce their use without recognising their potential as low-risk alternatives to smoking, they are improperly defining them as part of the problem

Just as I have done before, the experts warn that harsh regulation of e-cigarettes could have the unintended effect of protecting cigarettes:

On a precautionary basis, regulators should avoid support for measures that could have the perverse effect of prolonging cigarette consumption. Policies that are excessively restrictive or burdensome on lower-risk products can have the unintended consequence of protecting cigarettes from competition from less-hazardous alternatives, and cause harm as a result. Every policy related to low-risk, non-combustible nicotine products should be assessed for this risk.

The letter’s signatories also endorse a tax strategy that I have promoted for many years:

The tax regime for nicotine products should reflect risk and be organised to create incentives for users to switch from smoking to low-risk, harm-reduction products. Excessive taxation of low-risk products relative to combustible tobacco deters smokers from switching and will cause more smoking and harm than there otherwise would be.

The letter points to the enormous public health gains that are possible with tobacco harm reduction:

The potential for tobacco harm reduction products to reduce the burden of smoking-related disease is very large, and these products could be among the most significant health innovations of the 21st Century – perhaps saving hundreds of millions of lives.

It is encouraging to see such widespread international support for my long-held positions.

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