Learning from the Best:
A Tobacco Harm Reduction Primer
Countries like the United Kingdom and Sweden prove that lower smoking rates can be achieved with an open approach toward alternative nicotine products. Smoke-free goals can be reached if governments learn from the best, and most effective. Countries with a relatively high adoption of alternative nicotine products such as vaping, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches, and snus, generally lower smoking rates faster than other countries. It is time to learn from the best.
Policy Primer
Learning from the Best:
A Tobacco Harm Reduction Primer
This report presents the findings of two nation-wide surveys on harm reduction in Germany and France. The report consists of 30 interviews with general practitioners and a quantitative survey of 862 French and German smokers. The main goal of this study is to gain a greater insight into the misperceptions about vaping, their impact, and understand how to tackle them.
In addition to our own research, we compiled a list of misperceptions around vaping and nicotine in several countries.
What is Harm Reduction?
The goal of harm reduction is to reduce the adverse effects of a certain activity. Classic examples of harm reduction are seat belts or cycling helmets. They don’t make driving perfectly safe but reduce the potential harm drastically. The reason why they work is that they are practical. A total driving ban would decrease the risk of driving the most, but it is just unrealistic. That is why we try to make driving as safe as possible. Harm Reduction means putting practical solutions first instead of idealized goals which don’t work in practice.
Christmas is the perfect time to travel to another country. We can all agree that there’s nothing more exciting than discovering different countries during the holiday period. Meanwhile, considering sprawling regulations on vaping and alternative nicotine products worldwide, vapers should always carefully plan their travel.
The World Vapers’ Alliance’s research “Price Comparison of Vaping & Co in Europe” categorises and ranks 13 European countries based on some nicotine product availability and prices.
More than eight million people die each year due to smoking, with almost 99% of tobacco-related deaths caused by smoking — not from other forms of nicotine consumption. Reducing the number of smokers and allowing them to rapidly and efficiently switch to a less harmful alternative should be a major priority for governments and public health agencies worldwide. Unfortunately, too many people confuse nicotine consumption with the diseases caused by smoking. In this paper, we outline six main reasons why the war on nicotine is pointless and should stop.
The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which was adopted in 2014, includes provisions on the “manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products”
Currently, the EU is discussing the next TPD reform and how to include new nicotine
alternatives. Unfortunately, it seems the EU aims to continue its hostile and unwarranted attack on vaping and other harm reducing products. Flavour bans, higher taxes
and further restrictions are on the table.
Vaping has been extensively accused of being a gateway to smoking for adults and adolescents. Multiple studies have aimed to undermine the credibility of e-cigarettes as a cessation tool, and there is an urgent need to shift the Overton window of the debate and outline a science-based perspective that policyma- kers can use to enhance the wellbeing of consumers.
This paper aims to debunk several aspects of the “gateway ar- gument” and provide an alternative perspective as to why vaping actually helps conventional smokers divert from traditional and harmful tobacco consumption.
This report presents the findings of two nation-wide surveys on harm reduction in Germany and France. The report consists of 30 interviews with general practitioners and a quantitative survey of 862 French and German smokers. The main goal of this study is to gain a greater insight into the misperceptions about vaping, their impact, and understand how to tackle them.
In addition to our own research, we compiled a list of misperceptions around vaping and nicotine in several countries.
This report presents the findings of two nation-wide surveys on harm reduction in Germany and France. The report consists of 30 interviews with general practitioners and a quantitative survey of 862 French and German smokers. The main goal of this study is to gain a greater insight into the misperceptions about vaping, their impact, and understand how to tackle them.
In addition to our own research, we compiled a list of misperceptions around vaping and nicotine in several countries.
