Member-only story
We know how to end smoking
But governments, the World Health Organization and so-called public interest groups stand in the way.
As consumer products, combustible cigarettes are looking like more and more like videocassettes, encyclopedias and Kodak film.
In the US, they are being displaced by superior technologies, including e-cigarettes, oral pouches and devices that heat tobacco without burning it.
Tobacco markets in other countries, notably Sweden and Japan, are moving away from cigarettes even faster. They are on the road to ending smoking.
This is welcome news.
Cigarettes are lethal. The alternative nicotine products are not harmless, but they won’t kill you, at least as far as we can tell.
But instead of seeking to accelerate this market transformation, some governments and public interest groups, along with the World Health Organization, stand stubbornly in the way.
Backed by the billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg, the WHO continues to crusade against e-cigarettes, as do groups like the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the American Cancer Society. As I’ve reported, they have undue influence in low- and middle-income nations, some of which have banned the safer products. More about that…
