Research Articles

2023 Vape Predictions | 17 Top Experts Share Their Thoughts (December 21, 2022)
Predicting the future of vaping can be hard - but whether you're in industry, research or advocacy, it's also key to making effective decisions. So every year we invite top experts from different countries, continents and fields to use their unique insight and expertise to peer into the future of vaping. (The extent of geography also means there is a bit of a switch between British and American spelling!) Click for detail

Pakistan Nicotine-Pouch Surge Brings Harm Reduction Hope in South Asia (December 17, 2022)
Globally, almost a third of tobacco consumers use oral products. Smokeless tobacco (SLT) is generally safer than combustibles. But traditional forms popular in South Asia pack a deadly punch, leading to more than 570,000 annual deaths. Click for detail

United States public health officials need to correct e-cigarette health misinformation (December 16, 2022)
Health misinformation is harmful as it can cause confusion and sow mistrust regarding the adoption of public health recommendations and policies. We provide examples of e-cigarette misinformation promoted by the United States public health officials, which have persisted despite new data challenging the validity of the original assertions. Click for detail

Can alternative nicotine products put the final nail in the smoking coffin? (December 15, 2022)
This review describes the evolution of smoking prevalence in countries with relatively high adoption of alternative nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and snus compared to neighboring countries where these products are less prevalent. Click for detail

Free Vapes for Pregnant People Who Smoke, in UK Council Program (December 13, 2022)
In a bid to address health inequality and family poverty, a council in the United Kingdom will soon be handing out free vapes to pregnant people who smoke. Lambeth Council, a local authority in South London, already runs pregnancy smoking cessation services, which include behavioral support, counseling and access to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) like patches. Click for detail

Sweden's Snus Success Story, as Country Nears "Smoke Free" Status (December 12, 2022)
The Swedish government has officially confirmed that smoking rates in the country have dropped to 5.6 percent, setting up the nation to become the first in Europe to reach "smoke free" status. The designation "smoke free," at least in the European Union and the United Kingdom, refers to smoking prevalence of less than 5 percent in a given population. Click for detail

ARI Newsletter October 2022 (December 06, 2022)

Today the idea of ending combustible smoking is being discussed as a reality which we may see in the next one decade. Some of the countries have already deadlines for wiping out the cigarettes. As a step towards a smoke-free future, the world is talking about the concept of tobacco harm reduction or THR.

Decision to regularize HTPs divides opinions on tobacco control in Pakistan (December 04, 2022)

ISLAMABAD: The government's decision to regularize the alternative innovative tobacco products has generated a debate on how it would affect the tobacco control initiatives in Pakistan. The federal cabinet's committee on disposal of legislative cases in its meeting on 1 December 2022 decided to regularize the heated tobacco products. The government plans to amend the law on pictorial health warning to regularize the use of heated tobacco products.

ARI Newsletter September 2022 (October 31, 2022)

More than two-thirds of health professionals (70%) in Pakistan perceive nicotine as carcinogenic, according to a new study. The study - Knowledge towards Public Health Practitioners' Knowledge towards Nicotine and Other Cigarette Components on Various Human Diseases in Pakistan.

Mapping of Global Research on Electronic Cigarettes: A Bibliometric Analysis (October 10, 2020)

Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) use has increased rapidly in the past decades and has been widely studied by scholars worldwide, whereas the research topics and development trends in this field are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the landscape of research relating to e-cigarettes. The data outputted from the Web of Science Core Collection database was used for bibliometric analysis. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe the publications' characteristics.

ARI Newsletter August 2022 (September 13, 2022)

Ahsan Mustafa, 36, started smoking in 2007. He used to smoke 15 cigarettes a day. Six months back he found vaping as a possible solution to quit combustible smoking. "Vaping helped me in giving up smoking," Mustafa told Alternative Research Initiative (ARI), at a vape store in F-11 Markaz, Islamabad.

ARI Newsletter July 2022 (August 29, 2022)

Pakistan is facing a heavy burden of disease because of combustible smoking, with more than 25 million users of tobacco in the country. Some estimates say the number of tobacco users has reached 29 million. This was stated at a consultation with the journalists of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on tobacco use in Pakistan and how to end combustible smoking in a generation.

ARI Newsletter June 2022 (July 22, 2022)
A brutal culture war is raging on the role of harm reduction to hasten the end of smoking. But as the Twitterstorms rumble on, the evidence is mounting that safer nicotine products-vapes, pouches, snus and heated tobacco-are helping millions of people around the world switch away from combustible cigarettes and other risky tobacco use. Click for detail