Science-Based Resources
What is Harm Reduction?
The goal of harm reduction is to reduce the negative consequences associated with a particular activity.. Classic examples of harm reduction are seat belts or cycling helmets. They don’t make driving entirely risk-free but reduce the potential harm drastically. The reason why they work is that they are practical. Enforcing a total ban on driving would decrease the driving-related risks the most, but it is simply 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.
Why is vaping harm reduction?
When it comes to tobacco harm reduction, vaping serves as a prime example. While total abstinence would be the idealized goal of many, it is also highly unrealistic. We clearly see there is a demand for nicotine consumption. That is the reason why we see millions of smokers worldwide. What vaping does is separate the most harmful components of smoking from nicotine consumption. While it is not entirely risk-free, it is way less harmful than smoking. So every smoker switching to vaping reduces their personal risk.
1. EVIDENCE FOR VAPING
- Public Health England stated that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. Recently the largest literature review of its kind by King’s College reconfirmed this and found that “the use of vaping products rather than smoking leads to a substantial reduction in exposure to toxicants that promote cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease.”
Dr Debbie Robson, one of the report’s authors from King’s, says: “The levels of exposure to cancer-causing and other toxicants are drastically lower in people who vape compared with those who smoke. Helping people switch from smoking to vaping should be considered a priority if the Government is to achieve a smoke-free 2030 in England.”
- Public Health England stated that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. Recently the largest literature review of its kind by King’s College reconfirmed this and found that “the use of vaping products rather than smoking leads to a substantial reduction in exposure to toxicants that promote cancer, lung disease and cardiovascular disease.”
- In the British Medical Journal, Dr. William E Stephens of St. Andrews University showed that the risk of cancer from e-cigarettes compared to that from smoking is less than half a percent.
- Professor Jacob George (University of Dundee) found that smokers who switch to vaping “demonstrate significant improvement in vascular health”. A similar study found that “e-cigarettes offer similar vascular health benefits to that of NRT. This happens at a very early stage in the stop smoking process (3 days).”
- A new study successfully replicates three key studies comparing the toxicity of cigarette smoke and vaping and concludes that vaping possesses “substantially reduced toxicity” compared to smoking.
- The Royal College of Physicians summarized the role of vaping in the following way: “E-Cigarettes meet many of the criteria for an ideal tobacco harm-reduction product. […], they can in principle deliver a high dose of nicotine, in the absence of the vast majority of the harmful constituents of tobacco smoke […].”
- Vaping is a net public health benefit, according to numerous studies: “The overall benefits of vaping are considerably greater than the harms and are likely to improve public health.”
- The highly regarded healthcare NGO Cochrane concluded it its latest meta-review of 78 studies that “there is high certainty evidence that ECs [E-Cigarettes] with nicotine increase quit rates compared to NRT [nicotine replacement therapy] and moderate certainty evidence that they increase quit rates compared to ECs without nicotine.”
- Vaping is a recommended means of quitting for smokers in France. Outside of the EU, the United Kingdom, Health Canada, and New Zealand’s Ministry of Health also recommend vaping to smokers looking to quit.
- The smoking rate in the UK has been steadily declining in recent years, and it is now at its lowest rate since records began, with only 13.3% of adults smoking. This decline has been attributed to the introduction of e-cigarettes and other vaping products, which have been credited with helping many people to quit smoking. There is also no gateway from vaping to smoking seen: Only 1.5 % of those who had never smoked said that they currently vape.
- According to a Queen Mary University clinical trial, vaping is twice as effective for quitting smoking as nicotine replacement therapies.
- According to researchers from the University of Geneva and the Virginia Commonwealth University, former smokers who switched to vaping are less dependent on e-cigarettes than long-term users of nicotine gum were dependent on gum.
- The Royal College of Physicians stated that “the addiction potential of currently available e-cigarettes is likely to be low. NRT and e-cigarettes may satisfy smokers who are already using nicotine, but they have little appeal for never-smokers.”
- In contrast to gums & patches, vaping even helps people with no intention to quit smoking, this recent study found. They also found that daily vapers were eight times as likely as non-vapers to quit and nearly ten times as likely to stop smoking every day.
- 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 more hostile countries such as Australia.
2. EVIDENCE FOR NICOTINE POUCHES AND SNUS
SNUS
The use of snus has surpassed the smoking of combustible cigarettes in Sweden. Sweden is on the way to becoming the first country to reach the smoke-free goal, with a current smoking rate of 5.6%. Even though the total nicotine consumption in Sweden is within a similar range to other European countries, smoking-related mortality is much lower.
Key facts:
- Snus is far less harmful than smoking and helps smokers quit.
- Sweden is becoming the first country to achieve the smoke-free goal of a 5% smoking rate.
- Public health improved in Sweden due to the transition from smoking to snus.
Nicotine Pouches
Nicotine pouches are the newest smoking alternative and, therefore, not yet adequately regulated in many countries. Currently, they are either unregulated, entirely banned or treated the same as cigarettes in most countries — and none of these alternatives are optimal. With consumer-friendly regulation, nicotine pouches could be a cornerstone of our strive toward smoke-free goals.
Key facts:
- Nicotine pouches are the least harmful nicotine alternative to smoking and have a similar risk profile as conventional nicotine replacement products (e.g. gums or patches).
- At the same time, they work as a smoking cessation tool.
- Nicotine pouches have enormous potential to reduce smoking-related deaths.