Research Articles

The Birth of Harm Reduction Informs the World's Need for Safer Nicotine (November 07, 2020)
Early in 1987 the Conservative government took the radical decision to provide sterile injecting equipment to people who inject in response to the HIV crisis. Only a few months before, it had run an anti-heroin campaign. Now it was giving out free syringes.

Tobacco Regulation: Who is Getting It Right? (September 30, 2020)
I recently addressed the 2020 GTNF conference on the topic of "who is getting tobacco regulation right?". My answer was blunt: at present, very few! If we were, we would not have eight million deaths a year from tobacco use. Nor would we have 1.3 billion people still using tobacco products, most in a toxic combustible or dangerous smokeless form. The goal of a regulator should be primarily to reduce that harm in the fastest possible time. Sadly, this isn't the case today.

State ownership of tobacco companies and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. (September 22, 2020)
The focus of this report is on the contradictions and conflicts experienced by governments that own major stakes in tobacco companies, yet are required to support tobacco control at the same time because they are signatories to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The broader tobacco control environment is not covered by the report, although the context is important.

Focusing on recent publication of Gaiha et al. (September 17, 2020)
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a challenge for the scientific community to publish results quickly, and publication often occurs at the price of quality and reproducibility, which in turn undermines the public's trust of science.

Government intervention in the market for electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The known, the unknown and the challenges (September 08, 2020)
ENDS are considerably less harmful than cigarettes. Imposing the same tax burden on them (per unit of "harm") as on cigarettes leads to poorer health outcomes. Differential tax treatment of ENDS will encourage more cigarette smokers to switch to ENDS and could save millions of lives worldwide.

Overcoming barriers to disseminate effective smoking cessation treatments globally (September 08, 2020)
Major gaps remain in cessation products' availability and resource allocation for cessation services globally. Current licensed products are falling short on delivering and sustaining smoking cessation. Innovation in cessation products and services needs to build on learnings in nicotine pharmacokinetics, behavioural insights from consumer research and tap into 21st century tools such as mobile based apps. National implementation of FCTC's Article 14 needs to follow guidelines that encourage integration into existing health programmes and health-care practitioners' (HCPs) upskilling.

Perceptions of nicotine in current and former users of tobacco and tobacco harm reduction products from seven countries (September 08, 2020)
This study specifically assessed public perceptions of nicotine as opposed to products containing nicotine, which is the focus of previous studies. Apart from showing that consumers often incorrectly perceive nicotine and cigarettes as similar in terms of harmfulness, the authors highlight the need for more accurate and complete reporting by the media to clarify widespread misunderstandings and mitigate public uncertainty.

Goodbye Nicky hello Goldie - exploring the opportunities for transitioning tobacco farmers into cannabis production in Malawi (September 08, 2020)
The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the opportunities for tobacco farmers in Malawi from diversifying to cannabis, and the potential benefits for reducing deforestation by producing a cannabis based alternative fuel. It further argues that there are tensions between the conflicting objectives of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

Tobacco smoking in three "left behind" subgroups: indigenous, the rainbow community and people with mental health conditions (September 08, 2020)
This paper aims to investigate the extent to which three subgroups - people with mental health conditions, people belonging to sexual minority and gender groups and Indigenous peoples - have been "left behind" by countries implementing the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Tobacco harm reduction in the 21st century (September 08, 2020)
Toxicological testing, population studies, clinical trials and randomized controlled trials demonstrate the potential reductions in exposures for smokers. Many barriers impede the implementation of product substitution in tobacco harm reduction. These products have been subjected to regulatory bans and heavy taxation and are rejected by smokers and society based on misperceptions about nicotine, sensational media headlines and unsubstantiated fears of youth addiction. These barriers will need to be addressed if tobacco harm reduction is to make the maximum impact on the tobacco endemic.

An overview of tobacco control interventions in the Global South (September 08, 2020)
Despite the FCTC detailing the significance of the research, studies are still lacking in the Global South. There are significant research gaps such as longitudinal studies, harm reduction and randomized controlled trials.

Gender and Tobacco Control (August 17, 2020)
For more than thirty years, there have been many calls for the mainstreaming of gender into tobacco control; however, insufficient progress has been made with dire health and economic consequences.

Who is really co-opting harm reduction? (August 17, 2020)
The new generation of tobacco harm reduction products (HRPs) has the potential to save millions of lives and finally end the use of toxic combustible cigarettes.