TobaccoHarmReduction.org

Harm Reduction: Concepts and Practices

[1.0] What is Tobacco Harm Reduction?

[1.1] How can a smoker reduce his or her risk?

[1.2] What are "highly-reduced-risk nicotine products"?

[1.3] Isn't harm reduction a controversial idea?

[1.3.1] Safer just isn't good enough when it comes to my health.

[1.4] Can it really work?

Smokeless Tobacco

[2.0] What is smokeless tobacco and why is it such a good substitute for smoking?

[2.1] Eeeww, gross! I don't want to have goo in my mouth and have to spit (or be around someone else who is spitting).

[2.2] Why is smokeless tobacco a good substitute source of nicotine?

[2.3] Are you trying to sell people on using smokeless tobacco?

Smokeless Tobacco and Your Health

[3.0] What are the health effects of smokeless tobacco?

[3.1] Doesn't smokeless tobacco cause oral cancer (cancer of the mouth)?

[3.1.1] But doesn't smokeless tobacco cause oral lesions which can become cancerous?

[3.2] Does smokeless tobacco cause other cancers?

[3.3] Does smokeless tobacco cause heart disease or stroke?

[3.4] What does this all mean for the total risk compared to smoking?

[3.5] So why do so many people say "smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarettes"?

[3.6] Are you saying that smokeless tobacco is harmless?

[3.7] What about all the chemicals in smokeless tobacco that I have heard about?

[3.8] Doesn't smokeless tobacco contain fibreglass?

[3.9] I know someone (or read about someone) who got cancer from using smokeless tobacco. How do you explain that?

Nicotine and Addiction

[4.0] You keep talking about providing a less harmful source of nicotine. But isn't nicotine itself very bad for you?

[4.1] But isn't nicotine addictive?

[4.2] Does nicotine have any benefits?

[4.3] But isn't nicotine...?

[4.4] Does smokeless tobacco act as a "gateway", causing people to take up smoking?

Other Nicotine Products

[5.0] Are products other than Western moist snuff good substitutes for cigarettes?

[5.1] Are pharmaceutical nicotine products as good a substitute for smoking as smokeless tobacco?

[5.2] Are pharmaceutical nicotine products less harmful than smokeless tobacco?

[5.3] Are reduced-risk cigarettes, hookahs, or other ways of smoking a good substitute for regular cigarettes?

[5.4] You limited some of what you have written to modern Western smokeless tobacco products. What other products are there, and how are they different?

Quitting Smoking: Is Switching to Using Smokeless Tobacco Right for Me?

[6.0] Why should I switch products? I am planning on quitting altogether.

[6.1] What if I end up using smokeless tobacco but don't quit smoking? Then I'll have two bad habits.

[6.2] Is there evidence that switching to smokeless tobacco can really help me quit smoking?

[6.3] Can I use smokeless tobacco to help me quit using nicotine entirely?

[6.4] I am sure I will quit smoking someday, so wouldn't it be better to just wait until then, rather than switching to another habit?

[6.5] I am interested in switching. Can I do it all at once?

[6.6] But seriously, isn't promoting smokeless tobacco just a tobacco industry strategy to keep their the profits rolling in?

Who's Telling the Truth

[7.0] If some of the information that is out there is so wrong, why do so many organizations/websites/people say it?

[7.1] Why should we believe you?

[7.1.1] First, and foremost, try to notice who is responding to arguments by their opponents, and who is not.

[7.1.2] Second, ask tough questions.

[7.1.3] Third, look for the most obviously invalid arguments.

[7.1.4] Do not be swayed by the sheer volume of misleading information. Repetition does not create truth.

[7.2] Why do anti-smoking advocates mostly seem to oppose harm reduction?

[7.3] Why should we believe you; we hear that you get money from the tobacco industry?

[7.4] Isn't it a bit odd that some of you get grants from organizations that will benefit from the harm reduction message?

Glossary

Addiction
Cardiovascular disease
Fifty times the risk?
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)
Pharmaceutical nicotine products
Quit or die
Snus

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