The World Health Organization (WHO) states that tobacco products have caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century alone. Every year, there are seven million tobacco-related deaths worldwide, of which 80% are tobacco users in the world's low-and middle-income countries. If current trends persist, another BILLION people are predicted to die from tobacco-related diseases during the 21st century.
Many people who vape, or are otherwise involved in tobacco harm reduction, will remember the summer of 2019. That was when Juul faced endless criticism from Congress-by October, the company had voluntarily stopped selling most of its flavored e-cigarettes even online and the media became transfixed on a string of vaping-related illnesses throughout the United States.
At the end of November, an extraordinary episode caused outrage: the expulsion of Karl Erik Lund from a conference on e-cigarettes held in France. Dr. Lund is one of the world's most prominent researchers on tobacco harm reduction. Currently with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, he has published important papers about snus and has testified on behalf of plaintiffs suing the tobacco industry. He has received a preventative medicine award from the Norwegian Medical Association, among many other roles and accolades.
Almost three million Afghans smoke daily, the majority of whom are teenagers. Smoking is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Afghans every year. The previous Afghan government made significant efforts to control and reduce tobacco use through tobacco cessation policies and strategies. However, these policies were not effective in reducing the number of smokers and smoking-related deaths.
In 1962, when the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published Smoking and health,1 tobacco smoking was the largest avoidable cause of premature death and disability in the UK. During the ensuing 6 decades the UK has moved from being a global leader in tobacco consumption to a global leader in tobacco control,2 and the subsequent reduction in smoking prevalence by about 75% from 1962 levels is widely regarded as evidence of success.
A State Medical Society member of PRI recently requested information on the value of vaping as a harm reduction solution to tobacco use. There is considerable information, pro and con, with respect to the subject of vaping and PRI was unable to give its member Medical Society an informed answer. Accordingly, the PRI Board decided to retain an expert with respect to vaping and related issues.
Misperceptions about nicotine's contribution to smoking-related health harms could complicate efforts to reduce the public health burden of smoking. Study goals were to describe nicotine knowledge among adults who smoke and investigate whether misperceiving nicotine as a source of health harm was associated with beneficial health behaviors, or lower uptake of using less harmful sources of nicotine to support smoking cessation attempts.
To assess how and in what extent the electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use substituted the consumption of traditional combustible cigarettes (c-cigarettes, c-cig).
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