Lorillard CEO on E-Cigs as Harm Reduction

An editorial was posted at The Hill this morning by Murray Kessler, CEO of “Big Tobacco” company Lorillard, manufacturers of the Blu e-cigarette brand.  In it, he strongly and clearly calls for the FDA to consider a harm reduction strategy in relation to e-cigarettes.

While there is plenty to mistrust about the tobacco companies, and it’s certainly in Lorillard’s best interest to see e-cigarette sales continue, we also completely agree with everything Kessler asserts in his article.  As more and more people take up e-cigarettes to replace “analogs,” there seems little doubt that public health will improve as result.

“Even a modest reduction in exposure and risk for a product that is broadly accepted by consumers may, in the final analysis, offer the greatest benefit to the public health.”

One of the greatest dangers we face at this stage of the game is that the FDA will continue in the vein of what Kessler refers to as an “all-or-nothing” tobacco policy: that anything containing nicotine must be fought, regardless of the possible health benefits of promoting their use.  We see this sort of attitude every day, as more and more states consider legislation to limit e-cigarette use.

Despite that fact that e-cigarettes share almost none of the health risks of traditional cigarettes, there are many who will fight tooth and nail to eradicate them, and who will only be satisfied if nothing containing nicotine is available to the public. It’s an extremely short-sighted view: nicotine is not the cause of any of the health problems attributed to cigarettes, and countless lives would be saved if everyone smoking switched to e-cigarettes today. Unfortunately, public health is not the primary concern for many of these people; a good number of them just hate cigarettes and anything that looks like them, and will do anything to prevent their use. It’s a battle based, in very large part, purely on anti-tobacco prejudice, and there are many who would rather see all smokers die than to allow them a safer alternative. Even the FDA has been guilty of spreading misinformation in the anti-tobacco-and-anything-that-looks-like-it crusade.

“It is imperious and flatly wrong to withhold truthful information about relative risk in order to protect the all-or-nothing tobacco policy.”

It’s a bit of a shame that this comes from the CEO of a tobacco company, and will no doubt be seen by many as self-serving and deceptive as a result. Harm reduction in general, and e-cigarettes specifically, no doubt can and do save lives, and that’s something the FDA must keep in mind as they consider regulating the industry.  This isn’t just about us vapers getting to carry on as usual: real human lives depend on them getting this right.

Electronic cigarettes should be part of the harm reduction debate – The Hill’s Congress Blog

Lorillard CEO on E-Cigs as Harm Reduction