Tobacco harm reduction: Difference between revisions

Cigarette manufacturers have attempted to design safer cigarettes for almost 50 years, but results have been marginal at best.<ref name="Rigotti">{{cite journal |last1=Rigotti |first1=Nancy A |last2=Tindle |first2=Hilary A |title=The fallacy of "light" cigarettes |journal=BMJ |date=13 March 2004 |volume=328 |issue=7440 |pages=E278–E279 |doi=10.1136/bmj.328.7440.E278 |pmid=15016715 |pmc=2901853 }}</ref> Filters were introduced in the early 1950s, and manufacturers were selling low-yield cigarettes by the late 1960s.<ref name="Rigotti"/> Initially it was thought that these innovations were harm reducing.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Russell | first1 = MAH | year = 1974 | title = Realistic goals for smoking and health: a case for safer smoking | doi = 10.1016/s0140-6736(74)92558-6 | pmid = 4130257 | journal = Lancet | volume = 1 | issue = 7851| pages = 254–258 }}</ref> For example, in 1976 investigators at the American Cancer Society published research concluding that light cigarettes were safer.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammond |first1=E.Cuyler |last2=Garfinkel |first2=Lawrence |last3=Seidman |first3=Herbert |last4=Lew |first4=Edward A. |title='Tar' and nicotine content of cigarette smoke in relation to death rates |journal=Environmental Research |date=December 1976 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=263–274 |doi=10.1016/0013-9351(76)90036-0 |pmid=1001298 |bibcode=1976ER.....12..263H }}</ref> The study authors wrote that "total death rates, death rates from coronary heart disease, and death rates from lung cancer were somewhat lower for those who smoked 'low' tar-nicotine cigarettes than for those who smoked 'high' tar-nicotine cigarettes." However, scientific evidence suggests that switching from regular to light or low-tar cigarettes does not reduce the health risks of smoking or lower the smoker's exposure to the nicotine, tar, and carcinogens present in cigarette smoke.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benowitz |first1=Neal L. |last2=Jacob |first2=Peyton |last3=Bernert |first3=John T. |last4=Wilson |first4=Margaret |last5=Wang |first5=Langing |last6=Allen |first6=Faith |last7=Dempsey |first7=Delia |title=Carcinogen Exposure during Short-term Switching from Regular to 'Light' Cigarettes |journal=Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers |date=1 June 2005 |volume=14 |issue=6 |pages=1376–1383 |doi=10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-04-0667 |pmid=15941944 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Indeed, the WHO recommends that misleading terms, including ‘light’ and ‘mild’, should be removed from tobacco product advertising, packaging, and labeling.<ref>{{cite book |title=WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control |date=2003 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-159101-0 |url=https://www.who.int/fctc/text_download/en/ }}{{pn}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Guidelines for implementation of the WHO FCTC |date=2013 |publisher=World Health Organization |isbn=978-92-4-150518-5 |url=https://www.who.int/fctc/treaty_instruments/adopted/guidel_2011/en/ }}{{pn}}</ref>

A 2016 [[Cochrane review]] found that it was unclear whether using heat-not-burn tobacco products instead of traditional cigarettes would "substantially alter the risk of harm".<ref name=Lindson-HawleyHartmann-Boyce2016>{{cite journal |last1=Lindson-Hawley |first1=Nicola |last2=Hartmann-Boyce |first2=Jamie |last3=Fanshawe |first3=Thomas R |last4=Begh |first4=Rachna |last5=Farley |first5=Amanda |last6=Lancaster |first6=Tim |title=Interventions to reduce harm from continued tobacco use |journal=Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews |date=13 October 2016 |volume=2016 |issue=12 |pages=CD005231 |doi=10.1002/14651858.CD005231.pub3 |pmid=27734465 |pmc=6463938 }}</ref>