Alternative nicotine products lead to reduction in smoking rates: report

Alternative nicotine products can have a "significant" impact on reducing smoking rates as demonstrated by case studies in Japan and Sweden, a report showed Friday. In a policy paper dubbed “Safer Nicotine Works,” Tholos Foundation said it has found that alternative nicotine products, ranging from snus, nicotine pouches and gum to vapes and tobacco heating products, help people quit smoking cigarettes. Japan saw smoking rates, those that smoked cigarettes daily, decline from 19.8 percent to 17.8 percent in just two years between 2017 and 2019 after tobacco heating products were introduced to the market in 2016, the report said. The rate had dropped less than 2 percent over a 14-year period from 2003.