The Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation - World Health ...

• The risks associated with smokeless tobacco use vary according to the
product used, from risks that might be important for harm reduction strategies
to risks that are too small to be meaningful for such strategies.
• The differences in risks associated with use of different smokeless tobacco
products mean that it would be scientifically inappropriate to consider
smokeless tobacco as a single product for the purposes of estimating risk
or setting policies.
• The risk to a user of a particular product varies with the pattern and intensity
of use.
• Apple-type services for unicode imaging (ATSUI) are needed to present
product characteristics and patterns of use and their effects on levels of
risk. This technique gives unicode-encoded text advanced typographical
features and automatically handles many of the complexities inherent in
text layout, including correct rendering of text in bidirectional and vertical
script systems.
• Shifts in product use could reduce individual harm but increase harm to
the population as a whole or to segments of the population; therefore careful
scientific assessment is needed of both individual risks and changes in
use at the population level when considering harm reduction approaches.
• Consideration of the harm-reducing potential for individuals of changing
products and their characteristics should include the physical and chemical
characteristics of the product and its emissions, how it is used, the exposure
of users to toxicants, measures of product toxicity, addiction potential and
the risk for disease related to use.
• Consideration of the harm-reducing potential for the population of strategies
for shifting products or mandating changes in product characteristics
should include the possibility of initiation of product use by non-users, the
possibility that the product might be used as a transition to a more harmful
product or might lead to cessation of all use, the possibility that use of two
tobacco products will result in greater exposure to toxicants or prevent or
delay cessation, with relapse to more harmful products by people who
would otherwise quit, and the exposure of non-smokers.
• Claims that products reduce harm can have adverse effects on individuals
and the population and should be made only on the basis of compelling
scientific evidence.
• Demonstrations of altered product contents, lowered emissions or reduced
intake of toxicants are not sufficient to support claims or implications of
reduced toxicity or harm.
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