Explore the evidence and arguments around reducing harm from smoking through changes in products and behaviour. Coverage focuses on comparative risks and the harm-reduction approach, rather than every story about nicotine.
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It’s been a while since we collected that latest prohibitionist fails on X. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any recently. The disinformation scene has been alive and kicking, and we thought it was about time we shone a light on it again.
An “unintended consequence” of banning disposable vapes and certain flavours “is that it could encourage more people to try smoking” it says.
The EU has set itself a goal of being declared smoke free, defined by the World Health Organisation as having a smoking rate of under five per cent, by 2040.
Kurt Yeo left a 16-year corporate career in information systems to help smokers switch to vaping after he did so himself over a decade ago.
The Scandinavian country has by far the lowest smoking rate in Europe, having fallen from 15 per cent in 2007 to 5.6 per cent in 2022.
The decision has prompted fears that it would fuel an already thriving black market, led by powerful and violent organised crime gangs.
A blanket ban on single-use vapes will come into force across Britain on June 1, 2025, in a bid to stop children and young people from taking up vaping and reduce damage to the environment.
The study from South Korea, published in the European Heart Journal, found that switching to vapes was equally as beneficial as quitting smoking entirely without using any alternatives.
Rebecca Taylor was a Member of the European Parliament for the UK Liberal Democrats in 2013, when the EU agreed its current rules on vaping.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analysed data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey to assess nicotine product use among middle school (ages 11 to 13) and high school students (ages 13 to 18).
The research, published in scientific journal The Lancet, shows that reducing smoking levels to under five per cent (when a country can officially be declared ‘smoke free’) would increase global life expectancy by one year for men and by 0.2 years for women.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) says the proposed legislation undermines the country’s goal of becoming ‘smoke-free’ (defined as a smoking rate of under five per cent) by 2035, as it withdraws an important aid for smokers wanting to quit.
