Nicotine / THR - Statements from Organizations

"Tobacco Harm Reduction = SAFER than smoking"
The items list below may also be found on this Google Doc

Multinational pt. 1/International

World Health Organization EURO Office

• Source

European Parliament

• Source

SCENIHR - European Commission Directorate-General, Health & Consumer Protection

Source

Cochrane systematic evidence review

• Source
• 78 scientific studies (including >34 randomized control trials) involving 22,052 participants in a dozen countries. This 2022 update replaces their 2021 evidence review, based on 61 studies, which found “moderate certainty evidence.”

15 past presidents of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT)

• Source
• NOTE: This is not a statement by the SRNT.

The Tobacco Atlas

• The Tobacco Atlas is a collaborative publication by Vital Strategies & Tobacconomics at the Institute for Health Research and Policy.
• Vital Strategies was formed out of a merger between World Lung Foundation and The Union.
• Source

Multinational Pt. 2 - United Kingdom (Or any of the following individually*: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales)

• Even if the location is not in the UK

UK Department of Health, Towards a Smokefree Generation - A Tobacco Control Plan for England

• Source

“The evidence is increasingly clear that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than smoking tobacco. The government will seek to support consumers in stopping smoking and adopting the use of less harmful nicotine products.”

Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (UK)

Public Health England

Royal College of Physicians

British Medical Association

Cancer Research UK

British Lung Foundation

Asthma + Lung UK

• Source

“E-cigarettes are a relatively new stop smoking tool, but if used correctly represent a big opportunity to reduce the harms caused by smoking, and to help smokers quit their addiction. They are thought to be at least 95% less harmful to health than tobacco, and evidence suggests that for many they are an effective means to give up smoking. …Nearly a third of smokers have never tried vaping. There is a big opportunity to encourage as many smokers as possible to transition to vaping, and in doing so reduce their health risks.”

Primary Care Respiratory Society

Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

British Thoracic Society

British Heart Foundation

The British Psychological Society #1 #2

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Royal College of General Practitioners (UK)

Royal Society for Public Health

Stroke Association UK

Action on Smoking and Health UK

National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training

Royal College of Psychiatrists

Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Royal College of Midwives

LGBT Foundation

UK Teratology Information Service

London Fire Brigade

National Fire Chiefs Council

Association of Directors of Public Health North East Position Statement on Nicotine Vaping

UK Association of Directors of Public Health North East: “Tobacco remains the single biggest cause of preventable illness and death with approximately 5,000 people in the North East dying each year from smoking. The evidence is clear that, for smokers, vaping is a far less risky option and, in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking. We must ensure that vaping is an affordable and accessible alternative for smokers who want to reduce their risk of dying. There are concerns that only a small proportion of adults who smoke accurately believe that vaping was less harmful than smoking. We therefore support the delivery of evidence based communications among stakeholders and the public to widen understanding and to ensure smokers understand that switching to vaping is a significantly less harmful option than continuing to smoke.”

Faculty of Public Health (UK)

UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (UK)

Heart UK

Statement on the dangers posed by e-cigarettes

• Drug Science UK

Health Information and Quality Authority (Ireland)

Irish Heart Foundation, Irish Cancer Society +7 Endorsements

Health Service Executive Ireland - #1 and #2

National Health Service Scotland +19 Endorsements

Public Health Wales

Australia (See Also: "Australia and New Zealand")

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners +14 Endorsements

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia)

Australia and New Zealand

Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)

Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia

Belgium

Belgian Superior Health Council

• Source

“Yes, the e-cigarette has its risks, but is clearly less harmful than a traditional tobacco cigarette. According to the Council, the e-cigarette can therefore be a tool to give up tobacco completely.” [Google Translate]

Canada

Government of Canada

Health Canada

• Source

“If you are an adult that currently smokes, switching completely to vaping is a less harmful option than continuing to smoke. …Vaping is not known to cause Popcorn lung.” (January 2023) “While vaping products are not harmless, vaping exposes people who smoke to lower levels of harmful chemicals than continuing to smoke.” Statement from Minister of Health (January 16 2023).

Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health +3 organizations - Canadian Lower-Risk Nicotine Use Guidelines (LRNUG)

• Source

“​​Funded by Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program, the LRNUG has developed several resources to help guide people who use, or are thinking about using nicotine, on how to lower the risk associated with these products. ...E-cigarettes with nicotine may be an effective cessation aid for people who use combustible tobacco. People who switch from combustible tobacco to e-cigarettes will reduce their exposure to numerous toxicants and carcinogens.” Quick Tips: “Using tobacco in forms that don’t burn, like smokeless tobacco or heat-not-burn products, will reduce your exposure to harmful combusted chemicals including carbon monoxide. [You can] further reduce your risk by switching to products that don’t have tobacco like NRT [e.g., nicotine patches or nicotine gum] or e-cigarettes.” Statement by: CAMH - Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Pharmacists for a Smoke-free Canada, The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Centre for Effective Practice

Canadian Cancer Society

Canadian Lung Health Foundation

France

French National Academy of Medicine

French National Cancer Institute

French High Council for Public Health

French National Academy of Pharmacy

Collège de la médecine générale (College of General Medicine)

• Source

“Concerning the electronic cigarette, we consider it as a risk reduction tool and believe that we should not discourage the smoking patient who is learning to vape with a view to weaning [reducing smoking] by indicating to him that it is necessary to avoid the use concomitant cigarette/e-cigarette.”

Germany

German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

German Society of Addiction (Deutsche Suchtgesellschaft – Dachverband der Suchtfachgesellschaften)

• Source

“In general, one can assume that the vapor from an e-cigarette is much less harmful than conventional cigarette smoke and that the e-cigarette can be used for nicotine withdrawal if guideline-based psychotherapeutic and/or drug treatments for nicotine withdrawal are ineffective or unwanted.”

Isle of Man

Public Health Isle of Man

• Source

“E-cigarettes can be a particularly helpful way to stop smoking tobacco especially when combined with a specialist face to face support. Although experts say they are not entirely risk free, they are at least 95% less harmful than tobacco.”

Luxembourg

Fondation Cancer

• Source

“The electronic cigarette … does not contain tobacco. The vapor produced does not contain carbon monoxide or carcinogenic substances in significant quantities. Despite a lack of long-term scientific studies, it probably presents a reduced risk compared to tobacco (if not combined with cigarettes). …In general, we recommend that you vape with the most concentrated liquid possible, in order to reduce your consumption of liquid and therefore your exposure to inhaled substances.” [emphasis in original] [Google Translate]

Malaysia

Federation of Private Medical Practitioners' Associations, Malaysia

New Zealand (See Also: "Australia and New Zealand")

New Zealand Ministry of Health

Official New Zealand Ministry of Health Position Statement

• Source

“Vaping is not harmless but it is much less harmful than smoking. Vaping has the potential to help people quit smoking and contribute to New Zealand’s Smokefree 2025 goal.” Organizations that support this statement include: Health Promotion Agency/Te Hiringa Hauora (HPA), Hāpai te Hauora/Māori Public Health, New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA), Action for Smokefree 2025 (ASH), National Training Service (NTS), All District Health Boards, Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand, New Zealand Heart Foundation, New Zealand College of Midwives, Parents Care Centre

New Zealand Medical Association

New Zealand Pharmacy Council

Cancer Society of New Zealand

New Zealand Heart Foundation

Asthma & Respiratory Foundation NZ

Health Navigator NZ

Quitline NZ

Philippines

House of Representatives Philippines

2018

United States

Center for Critical Public Health

American Association of Public Health Physicians

American College of Preventive Medicine

American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

American Society of Addiction Medicine

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine

US Food & Drug Administration #1 #2 #3

National Institute on Drug Abuse

US Centers for Disease Control

Truth Initiative

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK)

American Association for Cancer Research and American Society of Clinical Oncology

American Cancer Society

American Heart Association

Eau Claire, WI Health Department

2022

Uruguay

Uruguayan Council of Ministries

2021

Suggestions to add to this page

Gates Foundation

• "Smoking rates are dropping, thanks to price increases associated with tobacco taxes, smoking bans, and other evidence-based practices outlined in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.Even if these practices are scaled up, however, millions of smokers will still suffer death, disease, and disability. Alternative tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, aren’t harmless, but they may be less harmful. We need to understand whether they could change the course of the smoking epidemic without addicting youth.”

2022: Physician's Research Institute

• While abstinence from tobacco use is the ideal, the next-best result, for individuals who can’t or don’t want to quit nicotine, is movement down the continuum of risk: away from combusted tobacco to a less harmful product. One possible alternative: E-cigarettes.