Scientific Standards for Studies on Modified Risk Tobacco Products

摘要

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. While the adverse health effects of tobacco use are well established in the scientific literature, an understanding of the science is not required to appreciate the human cost; every day, people see close friends and family suffer with the consequences of tobacco use. Every day, cigarette smokers try to quit, and yet, the vast majority of them will fail. An estimated 70 percent of smokers want to quit completely, and while 45 percent attempt to quit each year, only 6 percent of smokers are able to successfully quit. Instead of quitting, many cigarette smokers have sought a product with less risk, and for decades, the tobacco industry has purposefully misled the public into believing that there have been safer alternatives. The most prominent example is the light cigarettea product implied to be safer, which in fact, when used, was as hazardous as regular cigarettes. The prospect of a less hazardous tobacco product is not in and of itself problematic. The fundamental issue is that if a product is going to be marketed as being safer, then the claim must be true.