Tobacco harm reduction is about taking practical, immediate action to reduce death and disease from cigarettes. Instead of shaming or lecturing smokers who can’t or won’t quit, work to help them switch to lower-risk, non-combustible products. Instead of disdaining fellow scientists who choose to create change from inside nicotine products companies, work to build bridges between public health and industry.
That’s why I wrote articles for several years for Tobacco Reporter, a longstanding industry publication, on public health and regulatory topics. Some examples:
- Chilling Effects: Is a menthol ban appropriate for the protection of public health? 3/1/2024
- Not For the Birds: the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling against the FDA on tobacco harm reduction 2/1/2024
- Putting Faith in Cessation: The role of religion in encouraging smoking cessation 1/1/2024
- A Widening Gap: Tobacco harm reduction for people with mental health needs 12/1/2023
- Surprising Successes: The uncelebrated triumphs of tobacco harm reduction 11/1/2023
- Cracks in the Barriers: How to communicate tobacco products’ relative risks 9/1/2023
- Correcting the Record 8/1/2023
- Fighting the Dip Mentality: What will it take for women who smoke to consider smokeless? 4/1/2023
- Where’s the Parade? Record-low youth smoking rates get no respect 3/1/2023
- A Teaching Moment: Nicotine’s lessons for cannabis regulation 2/1/2023
- Science-Based Regulation? Politics and data in tobacco harm reduction. 1/1/2023
- Reality Check: To what extent do flavor bans achieve their stated objectives? 12/1/2022
- Choosing Wisely: are choices key to successful switching from cigarettes to reduced-risk options? 11/1/2022
- The Dilemma of Diversification: While lambasted by anti-smoking activists, the tobacco industry’s move into pharmaceuticals has potential to be a positive for public health 10/1/2022
- Listening to Nicotine Users: A GTNF panel puts “forgotten smokers” in the spotlight 9/1/2022
- Not “A Solved Problem”: Acknowledging Reality at the E-Cigarette Summit 7/1/2022
- Not a Bot: Consumer advocates are for real 6/1/2022
- White Coats, Fuzzy Facts? : Educating physicians on nicotine and the risk continuum 5/1/2022
- Unlikely Bedfellows : How free-flowing data streams can help advance public health goals for nicotine products 4/1/2022
- Watch Your Mouth : What the industry can’t (and could) say about tobacco harm reduction 3/1/2022
- Appropriate for the Protection of Health? 2/1/2022
- Who D’Ya Think You Are? 1/1/2022
- Acting Unnaturally: The practical and ethical issues of synthetic vs. tobacco-derived nicotine. 12/1/2021
- Crossing the Divide. When scientists make the difficult decision to work for a tobacco company. 11/1/2021
- Taming the Moral Panic. A recent landmark article in AJPH offers a rare balanced look at vaping in the U.S. 10/1/2021
- The Credibility Gap. What tobacco industry scientists wish they could say to physicians and public health researchers about their work.
- Filling the Gaps. The FDA gifted you a PMTA deficiency letter…what’s your strategy?
- “Grandfathered” Attitudes. New to the tobacco product industry? There are some things you need to know about past industry behavior that affects how U.S. regulators treat you.
- Gold Nuggets: Gaining Insights from the FDA’s Final PMTA Rule
- Perception and Intention Studies: The Most Confusing Part of an FDA Application, Explained