Heartland Institute experts today praised a new report from the Food and Drug Administration that says dissolvable tobacco products are less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
The report, available online here, deals with finely milled tobacco products that dissolve in the user’s mouth. In addition to confirming that such products are less dangerous than cigarettes, the FDA report warns dissolvable products could increase the total number of tobacco users.
The following statements from tobacco policy experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Tammy Nash at [email protected] and 312/377-4000. After regular business hours, contact Jim Lakely at [email protected] and 312/731-9364.
“Smokeless products are so much less harmful than cigarettes that even if there were more total tobacco users, the total amount of disease and death caused by tobacco use would decline dramatically because of the shift to far less risky products. Personally, I’d rather see more tobacco users and less illness. Yes, even if that meant more profits for tobacco companies. I doubt most anti-tobacco activists would be willing to agree.”
Jeff Stier
Senior Fellow
National Center for Public Policy Research
[email protected]
“For once, the FDA is showing it has some sense. Hardly anything works consistently to help people quit smoking. And, although no tobacco product is safe, some are safer than others. If people switch to other, safer tobacco products it could save lives.”
Eli Lehrer
Vice President, DC Operations
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
202/615-0586
The Heartland Institute is a 28-year-old national nonprofit organization with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Washington, DC. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call 312/377-4000.
