· Tobacco Control
· Smokefree Policies
|The diminishing returns of the anti-tobacco campaign. |
Jump to full article: Weekly Standard, 2012-02-18
Author: Eli Lehrer
If there’s one perfectly safe conclusion to draw from nearly a century of public health research, it’s this: Cigarette smoking is really, really bad for your health. . . .
Thus, for at least some people, some of the time, less harmful ways to get nicotine deserve attention from public health authorities. Anecdotal evidence shows that it might work. The country with the lowest smoking-related cancer and cigarette smoking rates for men in the Western world, Sweden, also has the highest rates of smokeless tobacco use. People who use snus, nicotine gum, or lozenges as a replacement for cigarettes, likewise, see many of the same short-term positive health benefits as those who quit tobacco use altogether. (Longer-term trends look promising, too, but, as with any public health issue, the data are incomplete.)
Public health strategies that continue to discourage smoking while accepting and, in certain cases, even promoting the use of other tobacco or nicotine products deserve a try. In fact, Rodu and some others are trying just this in Owensboro, Kentucky. (Results won’t be available for a few years.) Absent significant evidence to the contrary, efforts that ban the use of all tobacco/nicotine products—particularly those that appear less harmful than cigarettes—may well do more harm than good.
Public health should never promote tobacco use for those who don’t already use it, but it should be welcoming to the idea that some forms of tobacco are less harmful than others. Americans will never stop smoking altogether, and truly safe tobacco use is impossible. But strategies that try to direct smokers towards less harmful alternatives could save lives.
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