In a brave decision that could save millions of lives, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Authorized marketing The RJ Reynolds electronic cigarette device named Vuse. Mitch Zeller, the FDA’s director of tobacco regulation, stated that the device “can benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products by reducing exposure to harmful chemicals-whether it is a complete or substantial reduction in cigarette consumption. ”
The FDA’s dramatic action recognizes a method—perhaps the best method—for smokers to stop getting sick and commit suicide at twice the death rate of COVID-19.This is for them to choose an alternative that can provide nicotine, taste, and the tactile pleasure of holding something similar to a cigarette in a device. The health risks of these devices are “unlikely to exceed 5% of the risks associated with smoking tobacco products. “, according to a Report of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom.
The FDA’s decision follows the conclusions of a report issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month. International committee reignites the fight against smoking, I host. We also advocate a way to reduce harm, and are supported by in-depth research, campaigns to eliminate misinformation about the relative dangers of e-cigarettes and smoking, and policies such as taxing e-cigarettes with policies lower than traditional cigarettes or no taxes at all. .
more people Compared with 30 years ago, there are more smoking situations all over the world than 30 years ago, and the smoking cessation campaign that began in the early 1960s has become rigid and stagnant.Humiliation, advertising bans, patches, and chewing gum have all had an impact, but More than one billion people Tobacco is still being burned all over the world and the carcinogens released by burning are inhaled. Eight million Died every year from causes related to smoking.
However, in the past few years, disruptive technologies have transferred tens of millions of adult smokers into products. In the words of the FDA, “Much less toxic than burning cigarettes.”
Unfortunately, many governments have set up barriers to these tobacco alternatives. India, with AustraliaFor example, tobacco products that reduce harm have been effectively banned while still allowing the sale of combustibles.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which affects low- and middle-income countries, is still stuck in an outdated paradigm. Refusal to reduce harm For tobacco, at the same time Support it through the program Like needle exchange to reduce heroin overdose and deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.The World Health Organization has not even reduced the harm On the agenda At the biennial quit smoking conference in November.
The FDA has a different view. In 2017, Zeller and then Commissioner Scott Gottlieb New England Journal of Medicine, “The regulatory framework to reduce the harm of tobacco must include nicotine-a chemical substance that causes addiction to tobacco products-as the core. Although nicotine is not benign, it is related to the cancer and lung diseases caused by tobacco, which kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. It is not directly related to heart disease.” They called e-cigarettes “the promising foundation for a comprehensive approach to reducing the harm of tobacco.”
Therefore, in 2019, the FDA authorized the marketing of eight different Swedish match snuffs as “modified risk tobacco products.”Snuff is a type of dry snuff that is placed behind the upper lip. It has become popular in Sweden, where Smoking rate It has fallen to about half of that of other European countries, and the incidence of male lung cancer is the lowest in continental Europe.
In 2020, the FDA approved IQOS (the acronym stands for “I Quit Normal Smoking”), which generates aerosols by heating rather than burning tobacco-filled paper strips. “This significantly reduces the production of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals,” the FDA said. After the introduction of heat-not-burn products in Japan, Cigarette sales decline 27% Within two years.
In the United States, many organized opposition to risk-reducing alternatives have focused on young people. Of course, minors are not allowed to smoke or use e-cigarettes, but the obsession with youth may conceal more obvious and real dangers, namely, imminent diseases and deaths in the next 20 years. Current smoker In their 30s, 40s and 50s. Attempts to scare minors away from the spillover effects of e-cigarettes by conflating the dangers of tobacco and alternatives could lead to unnecessary deaths of millions of people.
Perhaps the most striking part of last week’s decision was that the FDA aptly stated that it “has determined that a complete or significant reduction in the potential benefits of smoking to smokers will outweigh the risks to young people.”
Let us hope that Vuse will be the first of many e-cigarette products authorized by the FDA, because the United States has brought its tobacco strategy closer to that of the United Kingdom, and the health authorities in the United Kingdom actively encourage long-term adult smokers to switch to e-cigarettes-and obtain Strong results. Even if WHO refuses to change its position, other countries — especially low- and middle-income countries where most smokers live — will see how tobacco harm reduction policies can save lives.
Former Deputy Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs James K. Glassman is the chairman of the International Committee to Reignite the Fight Against Smoking.
