Harm reduction

The EU parliament recently adopted the Special Committee on Beating Cancer ’s (BECA) final report – recognizing the potential contribution of alternative products to smoking cessation.

As the UK announces support for medical licensing of e-cigarettes, experts debate the issue in a recent published article in the British Medical Journal.

The independent German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has recently published its third preliminary health risk assessment for nicotine pouches, acknowledging its potential as a risk-reducing product for smokers.

In 2020, the European Parliament approved the creation of a Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA). BECA concluded its work on 9 December 2021, by adopting a report with calls for stronger EU action against cancer, on its last meeting before the end of BECA’s mandate. In the report, BECA introduces for the first time a tobacco harm reduction perspective on EU level, but regrettably also recommends measures counterproductive to this aim.

The results of a survey performed by the Ministry of Health in New Zealand show decreasing smoking rates, while the use of less harmful nicotine products increase.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is inviting manufacturers to submit products for approval to be prescribed. This means that the U.K could become the first country in the world to prescribe e-cigarettes licensed as a medical product, to lower the smoking prevalence.

On the 18th of October, 100 specialists in nicotine science, policy and practice called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to modernize its approach to tobacco policy by adopting the harm reduction perspective.

A new report by David Sundén, Doctor of Economics from Stockholm School of Economics, finds that the ban on snus (oral smokeless tobacco) in the EU has a highly negative effect on public health. The research looks at the relationship between smoking, mortality from smoking-related illnesses and snus as a risk-reducing alternative.

Only one in three smokers wants to quit for good. This is the conclusion from, a new study conducted by researchers at the Norwegian National Institute of Public Health’s department for intoxicants and tobacco.