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WHO urges countries to consider ‘global nicotine reduction strategy’

http://mainenewsonline.com/content/29724-who-urges-countries-consider-global-nicotine-reduction-strategy

A panel of tobacco researchers that advises 180 World Health Organization (WHO) nations on creating constructive fresh regulations for tobacco products has lately suggested the group to think of a ’global nicotine reduction strategy’.

As part of the strategy, only very low nicotine cigarettes would be available for sale legally. Such cigarettes would have very slight nicotine in the tobacco that wouldn’t create cigarette addiction. The advice also cautioned that just nations with extensive tobacco-control programs should attempt doing this.

A University at Buffalo researcher has written in new paper published online July 1 in the journal Tobacco Control that the scientific proof so far hasn’t backed such a recommendation at this time, even in the case of nations that have quite strong tobacco control programs.

Lynn T. Kozlowski, a professor of community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, has warned that a lot more is required to be known regarding the effects of this kind of a ban or prohibition on traditional cigarettes prior to the implementation of the recommendation by any of the WHO nations.

Kozlowski, PhD, added, “Countries need to appreciate that such a ban or prohibition of traditional cigarettes has not yet been assessed anywhere in a community with a representative sample that includes individuals with mental health or other substance abuse issues”.

The 2003’s WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was the first international treaty formed by the WHO. The treaty was ratified by around 180 nations. The WHO possesses a panel of tobacco researchers, called ‘TobReg’, that gives advises to the Framework Convention’s members.

According to a report in Buffalo by David J. Hill, “This strategy would require that very low nicotine cigarettes could be the only cigarettes sold legally. These cigarettes would have so little nicotine in the tobacco that they would not create an addiction to cigarettes. This advice also warned that only countries with extensive tobacco-control programs should try this.”

But the scientific evidence to date doesn’t support such a recommendation at this time, even for countries with very strong tobacco control programs, a University at Buffalo researcher writes in a new paper published online July 1 in the journal Tobacco Control.

Lynn T. Kozlowski, a professor of community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, cautions that much more needs to be known about the effects of such an untested prohibition or ban of traditional cigarettes before any WHO nations implement the recommendation.

“Countries need to appreciate that such a ban or prohibition of traditional cigarettes has not yet been assessed anywhere in a community with a representative sample that includes individuals with mental health or other substance abuse issues,” says Kozlowski, PhD.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule known as the Deeming Regulation, extending its authority under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, or Tobacco Act, to all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), also known as vapor products,” according to a news report published by Daily Signal.

A June 16 consumer update states that the FDA’s goal is to protect Americans from tobacco-related disease and death. Some of the steps being taken include restricting sales to minors, requiring health warnings, and making manufacturers show that the products “meet the applicable public health standard set by the law.”

The United Kingdom’s Royal College of Physicians has said that e-cigarettes can prevent almost all the harm from smoking. Its report states, “The available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5 percent of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure.”

The Deeming Regulation definitely will not help consumers understand this, because the Tobacco Act prohibits companies from making “false and misleading product claims.” The law categorically assumes all claims about safety are false, no matter how true they might be.

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