Read articles from North America

September 22, 2026 by reason.org

Half a billion dollars to fight a collapsing trend deserves scrutiny. Youth vaping has fallen sharply, yet lawmakers are still treating it as an expanding emergency while adult smoking remains the bigger driver of preventable disease. Resources should follow the scale of harm, not the politics of alarm. Serious nicotine policy would protect young people without using outdated crisis language to justify measures that may also make quitting harder for adults.

September 22, 2026 by thejournal.ie

The phrase “vaping is worse than smoking” does more than misstate the evidence — it changes behaviour. A smoker who believes that message may see little reason to switch, even though cigarettes remain the far more harmful product. Good fact-checking restores the missing hierarchy: vaping is not harmless, but it is not smoking. Clear risk communication can be the difference between staying with combustion and taking a less harmful route away from it.

September 21, 2026 by regulatorwatch.com

Nicotine pouch testing should be driven by science, not suspicion by category. Better data on ingredients, emissions, exposure and product performance can help regulators distinguish between responsible smoke-free products and those that fail basic standards. That matters because credible harm reduction depends on transparency as much as access. The stronger the testing framework, the harder it becomes to dismiss pouches with fear — or to defend products that do not meet the evidence.

September 21, 2026 by desmoinesregister.com

Tobacco control embracing harm reduction would mark a shift from fighting nicotine use in the abstract to reducing the harms that actually kill. FDA vaping policy should recognise that adult smokers need legal, evidence-based alternatives capable of moving them away from combustion. That does not weaken prevention or youth protection; it makes the overall strategy more realistic. Public health progress depends on helping people stop smoking, not on treating every nicotine product as the same threat.

September 18, 2026 by linknky.com

Veterans who smoke need support that recognises habit, stress, trauma and dependence rather than reducing quitting to willpower. Many have tried to stop before, and some may need lower-risk nicotine options that meet them where they are. Harm reduction can create a more realistic path from habit to health by reducing exposure to combustion while keeping people engaged in care. Better cessation support should be practical, respectful and tailored to the lives of those it aims to help.

September 18, 2026 by substack.com

Pop culture can reveal how much the nicotine debate has changed. A question framed through Charles Schulz and familiar comic-strip nostalgia points to something bigger: public attitudes are shaped as much by stories, humour and moral cues as by evidence. That matters for tobacco harm reduction, because safer nicotine products are often judged through cultural discomfort before their risks are properly compared with smoking. Better public health communication should be clear enough to cut through the cartoon version of the debate.

September 15, 2026 by daily-pouch.com

Canada’s move to loosen nicotine pouch regulations signals a more practical turn in smoke-free policy. Keeping pouches behind excessive barriers can limit oversight, reduce adult access and leave smokers with fewer alternatives to cigarettes. A better framework would combine age controls, product standards and clear risk communication with legal routes that adults can realistically use. Regulation should make lower-risk products accountable, not invisible.

September 14, 2026 by washingtonexaminer.com

FDA e-cigarette authorisation should be a scientific process, not a political obstacle course. Adult smokers need legal products assessed on evidence, exposure and their potential to reduce harm compared with continued smoking. A system that delays or rejects lower-risk options while cigarettes remain widely available sends the wrong signal. Regulation should protect consumers without allowing politics to decide which routes away from combustion survive.

September 14, 2026 by substack.com

A patient who still smokes is not a failure of character. It may be a sign that the advice, tools or assumptions around quitting are not meeting the reality of dependence. Clinicians can make a difference by asking what has already been tried, what keeps the cigarette in place, and whether lower-risk nicotine options could support a move away from combustion. Smoking cessation works better when care starts with the person, not the expectation that one method should work for everyone.

September 14, 2026 by substack.com

A patient who still smokes is not a failure of character. It may be a sign that the advice, tools or assumptions around quitting are not meeting the reality of dependence. Clinicians can make a difference by asking what has already been tried, what keeps the cigarette in place, and whether lower-risk nicotine options could support a move away from combustion. Smoking cessation works better when care starts with the person, not the expectation that one method should work for everyone.