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Download the PDF Booklet here



For decades, lawmakers and regulators have used taxes, bans, and strong regulations in an attempt to reduce the negative health effects of smoking. Recently, some have sought to extend those policies to electronic cigarettes. This booklet urges policymakers to re-think that tax-and-regulate strategy.


Health professionals have long known that the smoke created by combustible cigarettes, rather than the nicotine, is what makes smoking harmful. Smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes provide a much safer and healthier alternative delivery system for nicotine. Tobacco harm reduction is a proven strategy for helping smokers reduce their tobacco use or quit altogether.


Dr. Brad Rodu, lead author of the enclosed booklet, has been at the forefront of tobacco harm reduction research and policy development for more than 20 years. He is a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville, where he is a member of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research.


The booklet's table of contents:


Introduction


Policy Prescriptions


Taxation

Indoor and Outdoor Bans

Prohibiting Purchases by Minors

Regulating Flavors


Myths and Facts About E-Cigarettes


There is an epidemic of e-cigarette poisoning of children

E-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking

E-cigarettes don't help smokers quit

E-cigarettes aren't any less harmful than tobacco cigarettes


History of the Failed Anti-Smoking Campaign

Quit or Die as the Only Strategy

The Case for Tobacco Harm Reduction

Decades of Evidence for Tobacco Harm Reduction

E-Cigarettes as a Harm-Reduction Alternative

What Are E-Cigarettes

Extending FDA Regulations to E-Cigarettes


Conclusion

About the Authors

Endnotes (116 of them)