Why Health Experts Argue About the Value of ‘Smoke-Free’ Nicotine Products

With rates of smoking declining globally, some of the world’s biggest tobacco companies have pledged to work toward a future without cigarettes. But there’s still plenty of money to be made in other ways by satisfying people’s hankering for nicotine, the addictive stimulant found in tobacco. Globally, sales of “smoke-free” nicotine products increasingly eat into those of cigarettes and other combustibles. Meanwhile, health officials are divided as to whether they should condone products that, while less deadly than cigarettes, can hook users just as easily and may also have harmful effects.