Flavors can play a key role in helping smokers switch. Many start with tobacco flavor but move to others over time — distancing themselves from the reminder of smoking. As adults, we enjoy sweets, drinks, and treats — why should quitting be any different?
Transcription:
00:10 - 00:21
[Joanna Junak]
Ian, you hosted the workshop A Fresh Look at Flavors. So before I ask you about flavors, can you tell me what got you interested in the area of tobacco harm reduction?
00:22 - 00:53
[Ian Fearon]
I think it's just because it gives you the opportunity to benefit society just through the work that I and other people do. You know, cigarette smoking still kills millions of people every year, and tobacco harm reduction is, you know, it's all about helping those people, and you can make... you know, huge contributions to society and people's health, individual's health and population level health. And that's really why I do what I do. It's hugely valuable, I think, to do that.
00:54 - 01:00
[Joanna Junak]
Okay. And why do you think flavors are so important for people trying to quit smoking?
01:01 - 01:39
[Ian Fearon]
I don't fully know the answer to that, I think. But I think it makes vaping products attractive. If people use tobacco-flavoured vaping products, they often switch over time to use other flavours. And I think maybe the tobacco flavours just remind people of what they're trying to stop doing, which is vaping. smoking cigarettes. And then, you know, as adults we like sweets, we like confectionery, we like fizzy drinks and so on. They're all flavoured products. I just think it helps with the appeal to adults with the flavours that are in electronic cigarettes.
01:40 - 01:45
[Joanna Junak]
So why do some governments still want to ban flavours despite the evidence?
01:45 - 02:51
[Ian Fearon]
I'll be honest, I wish I knew the total answer, and I don't fully understand it. I think part of the problem is that we're too focused on one aspect of flavors, and that is youth. And of course, we don't want any kids using electronic cigarettes. But that use is only one part of harm reduction. And the bigger part, maybe the most important part, is helping people quit a habit which could kill them. And I think there's not enough focus on the adult smokers that we're trying to help, and there's a little too much focus on youth use. And I think data is showing, you know, we saw in my workshop earlier some data which show that youth use of electronic cigarettes in the United States is at an all-time low. And that's despite the mass availability of flavoured vaping products. So I think, as I say, I think we need to pay a bit more attention to helping the adult smokers who are going to suffer debilitating illness or die early because of cigarette smoking.
02:52 - 03:00
[Joanna Junak]
What are the biggest barriers to communicating about tobacco harm reduction around the world?
03:00 - 03:44
[Ian Fearon]
There's a number of barriers. I think the ones that I'm most conscious of are misinformation, misreporting of scientific data, scare stories about vaping products, about nicotine pouches. And these really embed in people's minds that these products are harmful and they might kill you, which is very far removed from reality. So I think what we need to do is really get as much data into the public domain, talking about the benefits of helping people stop smoking and using novel nicotine and tobacco products, and try and break down some of those barriers around people's perceptions about the harmfulness of novel nicotine products.
03:44 - 03:48
[Joanna Junak]
And why is education so important in tobacco harm reduction?
03:49 - 04:31
[Ian Fearon]
I mean, it's just important that we give people all the information that we have, you know, educating people about, you know, educating smokers that there is a less harmful alternative, educating physicians that, you know, they can recommend things to their patients which will improve their health. It's so important that passing on of knowledge is just fundamental, not just to tobacco harm reduction, but any area of life. So it's important that we keep, you know, keep doing what we're doing in terms of educating people educating governments, nicotine product users, physicians, whoever it might be, talking about the data that we have and the harm reduction potential of novel nicotine products.
04:32 - 04:33
[Joanna Junak]
Thank you so much, Ian.
04:33 - 04:35
[Ian Fearon]
My pleasure. Thank you.