Nicotine / THR - Statements from Experts
The following experts are speaking out in support of adult use of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) products to help people quit smoking and to prevent relapse.
Tobacco Control / TC (Past or Present)
Kenneth Warner
- Photo: University of Michigan
- Source: Article by Marc Gunther
- Author of: How to Think—Not Feel—about Tobacco Harm Reduction
Steven Schroeder
- Photo: E-Cig Summit 2020
- Source: Article by Marc Gunther and Source: Article by Thomas Fuller
Mitch Zeller, JD
- Photo: FDA
David Abrams
- David Abrams good quotes from David and others
- Photo: Documentary - You Don't Know Nicotine
- Quote: Interview
- Bio: NYU School of Global Public Health
Tom Miller
Dr. Cheryl Healton
Bio (from the above link) Her Photo is on her bio page: Founding President and CEO of American Legacy Foundation (created from Master Settlement Agreement Funds, now known as the Truth Initiative; Dean of School of Global Public Health and Professor of Public Health Policy and Management, NYU School of Global Public Health; Founding chair of the Public Health Practice Council of the Association of Schools of Public Health; Serves on the National Board of Public Health Examiners, the Betty Ford Institute, Lung Cancer Alliance, Board of Directors at the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, and the Board of Directors at HealthRight International.
Tobacco Harm Reduction Quote: E-cigarette Summit 2021 We treat addiction to combustible tobacco differently than addiction to other products with respect to harm reduction approaches. We are spending way too much time on infighting and too little time on finding common ground to massively reduce combustible tobacco use and ending the false equivalency between products. Smoking remains a worldwide tragedy causing a billion lives at stake in this century alone. Lower risk products exist to help those unable or unwilling to quit. We have abandoned our harm reduction approach in public health when it comes to saving smokers.
Cliff Douglas
John Seffrin, Ph.D
Allan Erickson
Scott Ballin, JD
Clive Bates
Michael Siegel
David Sweanor
Lynn Kozlowski
Scientists (No TC Background)
Academics (No TC Background)
Dr Nimesh Desai
It is also important to understand that there is no one formula which applies to all, every smoker has their biogenetics, their personality, their circumstances owing to which they cannot quit smoking. There is a need to consider different solutions for various groups and assess safer alternatives on a case-to-case basis. There is a need to provide consumers with varied and safer alternatives giving them the right to choose the best solution that works for them. There is plenty of evidence and scientific evidence on the vast potential of the tobacco harm reduction category and how it can benefit adult smokers. Source
Kenneth Michael Cummings PhD, MPH
If you have somebody pulling their chemo bag and they are going to sneak a cigarette out behind the cancer center, which we see, it’s pretty sad. It ain’t a choice. It’s a true addiction. There are alternative nicotine delivery products that don’t have to send you to your local cancer center,” Source
Daniel Wikler, Ph.D.
Medical Professionals (No TC Background)
Dr Steven Chow, Malaysia
President, Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia “We cannot discount tobacco harm reduction strategies. Switching to less harmful alternatives such as vape, snus, nicotine patches and gum can provide smokers a pathway towards quitting traditional cigarettes altogether.”
Michael Fiore, United States
"In just today, we are going to lose 20 of our residents. Twenty individuals in Wisconsin are going to die prematurely of a disease directly caused by their smoking, on average, robbing them of 10 to 15 years of life." " Many adults don't want children exposed to secondhand smoke. Vaping is, without a question, less dangerous than cigarette smoking."
Dr. Diego Verrastro, Argentina
- Médico cirujano general especialista en Medicina de Emergencia, Argentina
- "Quitting smoking can be difficult. Vaping is one more way to quit smoking by obtaining nicotine with fewer toxins that come from the combustion of tobacco. You can be sociable, spend less, and once you quit smoking, you'll feel better about it." (Google Translate)
Dr. Fernando Fernandez, Phillipines
Better strategy than watching our patients who smoke die of oral cancer
Renowned Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and International Lecturer, member of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) and the Philippine College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (PCOMS). He is the past president of the PCOMS and the PDA. Fellow of the International College of Dentists (ICD), International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (IAOMS) and the Asian Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (AAOMS).
“We warn our patients who are smokers that smoking is the leading cause of oral cancer and strongly advise them to quit smoking. For those who cannot or do not want to quit smoking by themselves or with currently approved methods, we convince them to switch to non-combustible alternatives,”
Thomas Brandon, PhD, United States
Earlier this year, the findings from a major clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that e-cigarettes were almost twice as effective as the nicotine patch for producing one year of smoking cessation. These findings added to those of other, smaller studies previously published.
“This could be a game-changer for lots of people,” says Thomas Brandon, Ph.D., director of Moffitt’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program and chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior. “It means that for smokers who have not been able to quit by using the available medications, vaping might be worth a try. But it is important to completely switch from smoking to vaping to get the most health benefits.”
Thomas Brandon, PhD, is the Director of the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program and Chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt Cancer Center. He is also Professor of Psychology and Oncologic Sciences at the University of South Florida
Political Leaders (No TC Background)
Jason Osborne
Suggestions to add to this page
More names to research for positive statements
Jaron Hoani King
Comments on vaping and tobacco harm reduction from expert stakeholders
World No Tobacco Day: Here's why WHO’s approach to tobacco cessation needs an overhaul
The Truth Initiative, too, once embraced harm reduction. Its former board chairman, Tom Miller, Iowa’s long-serving attorney general, still argues that e-cigarettes are a “means to saving millions of lives.” Cheryl Healton, its former CEO, and David Abrams, formerly executive director of the Schroeder National Institute of Tobacco Research and Policy Studies, which is housed at the Truth Initiative, are harm-reduction advocates. So is Steven Schroeder, for whom the institute is named. Found here
John Britton There are other arguments not presented above, and more will arise, but in my view electronic cigarettes represent a potent opportunity to prevent death and disability from smoking. It is therefore important to grasp the opportunity they provide while also managing the risks to minimise any unwanted effects. I therefore propose that electronic cigarettes are an opportunity that health professionals should welcome and develop, and use them to help prevent death and disability from smoking in our society.
Ray N.
Bill G.
Neil B.
Dr Garrett McGovern Bio Article
Kellie Ann Forbes BScN Here
PROFESSOR HEINO STÖVER and here
Dr. Derek Yach
- “We’ve been very clear that we support provisions that children should never vape or smoke. However, our main objective is to help adult smokers quit by making cessation aids accessible and to support adult smokers switching to approved harm reduction products. These include snus, e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and nicotine pouches,” says Yach. “In the long term, tackling cessation together with harm reduction is the only way to bring smoking rates down relatively soon. If today’s adult smokers quit or switch, even into their fifties or sixties, they will see improvements in their quality of life.”
