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 now write monthly for Tobacco Reporter, a longstanding industry publication, on public health and regulatory topics. (Some articles are co-authored with toxicologist Willie McKinney, Ph.D., who has deep experience in modified-risk tobacco product research and regulation.)
- 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