Read articles from North America
September 10, 2026 by 2firsts.com
GSTHR Estimates 200 Million People Use Non-Combustible Nicotine Products as 28 Countries Show Rising Use Alongside Falling Smoking Rates
GSTHR estimates about 200 million people worldwide use what it terms “safer nicotine products,” including vapes, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches and snus. The report says use of non-combustible products rose while smoking rates fell in 28 countries analyzed.
September 10, 2026 by regulatorwatch.com
Yes, It Is a War | Health Economist Rebukes FDA’s Campaign Against Vaping | RegWatch
The language around vaping has become a policy tool in itself. Describe a product mainly through fear, and the public may never hear the more important comparison: continued smoking versus switching away from combustion. A health economist’s criticism of the FDA campaign highlights the cost of messaging that treats caution as neutrality. Public health should inform smokers clearly, not make lower-risk choices sound too dangerous to consider.
September 09, 2026 by substack.com
When Nicotine Is Treated as Synonymous with Smoking, Science—and People—Lose
Equating nicotine with smoking is one of the most damaging shortcuts in public health communication. Nicotine can cause dependence, but the major burden of disease comes from inhaling smoke from combustible tobacco. Blurring that distinction leaves smokers confused about safer alternatives and less able to judge their options realistically. Clearer policy should target the harms of combustion while giving adults honest information about lower-risk nicotine products.
September 04, 2026 by github.io
SRNT Recommendations to US Physicians on Nicotine E-Cigarettes
Clinical guidance on e-cigarettes is moving from avoidance towards structured, evidence-informed advice. The SRNT recommendations recognise that adult smokers are already asking clinicians about vaping, and that many need options beyond traditional cessation tools. That shift matters because shared decision-making requires more than caution; it requires clear comparisons between continued smoking, complete switching and nicotine abstinence. Harm reduction belongs in the clinical conversation when it helps patients move away from combustion.
September 04, 2026 by substack.com
Part One: From Pesticide to NRT: A Regulatory History of Nicotine
Nicotine’s history is far more complex than the way it is usually discussed. The same substance has been framed as poison, dependence driver, medicine and harm reduction tool, depending on dose, delivery and context. That matters because public health debates often flatten nicotine into a single moral category. Better policy starts by separating the substance from the smoke, the risk from the rhetoric, and the product from the purpose it may serve.
September 03, 2026 by snusforumet.se
Arielle Selya: The scientist who challenged the gateway theory
The gateway theory has shaped nicotine policy for years, often turning vaping into a presumed pathway to smoking rather than a potential route away from it. Challenging that assumption matters because policy should follow observed behaviour, not fears repeated until they sound like evidence. Research that separates correlation from causation can help clarify whether safer nicotine products are driving harm or displacing cigarettes. Public health needs that distinction before it builds restrictions around a theory.
September 03, 2026 by snusforumet.se
Arielle Selya: The scientist who challenged the gateway theory
The gateway theory has shaped nicotine policy for years, often turning vaping into a presumed pathway to smoking rather than a potential route away from it. Challenging that assumption matters because policy should follow observed behaviour, not fears repeated until they sound like evidence. Research that separates correlation from causation can help clarify whether safer nicotine products are driving harm or displacing cigarettes. Public health needs that distinction before it builds restrictions around a theory.
September 03, 2026 by clearingtheair.eu
Tobacco Control Advocates: Big Tobacco’s Useful Idiots
Tobacco control loses credibility when opposition to industry turns into opposition to harm reduction itself. Cigarette companies deserve scrutiny, but that does not make every argument for safer nicotine products a tobacco industry tactic. Adult smokers are poorly served by a debate that treats reduced-risk options as contamination rather than opportunity. Public health should be able to reject industry misconduct while still recognising evidence that helps people move away from combustion.
September 02, 2026 by worldvapersalliance.com
The US is moving fast on pouches, the EU should follow its lead
The US approach to nicotine pouches shows a more practical way to handle smoke-free innovation. Rather than treating the category as a threat by default, regulators can assess products through evidence, standards and their potential role in moving adults away from cigarettes. Europe should not fall behind by regulating pouches as though all nicotine use carries the same public health meaning. A risk-proportionate framework would protect young people while allowing lower-risk alternatives to compete with combustible tobacco.
September 01, 2026 by realclearhealth.com
The FDA Is Making It Harder to Quit Smoking
A regulator can make quitting harder even while claiming to protect public health. Delayed approvals, narrow authorisation pathways and hostility towards safer nicotine products can leave adult smokers with fewer legal options than they need. Cigarettes remain widely available while alternatives that may help people switch face barriers that slow or block access. The FDA’s approach should be judged by whether it reduces smoking-related harm, not by how cautious it appears on paper.