Basics
Tobacco Harm Reduction
Health Care
Published on June 26, 2025
Explore This BasicModern tobacco policy is shaped by the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (TCA), which was a watershed public health moment. The TCA gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) additional authority and the tools to tackle the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States – cigarette smoking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute, nearly 480,000 Americans die from smoking-related causes each year, resulting in $240 billion in direct healthcare costs and $360 billion in lost productivity due to smoking-related illness and premature death.
Importantly, the TCA established the first common set of rules for tobacco product manufacturers, guidelines for accurate and scientifically based communications, and the opportunity to advance tobacco harm reduction by providing a framework for evaluating and authorizing reduced-risk products that meet the standard of being “appropriate for the protection of public health”. Given the known harms of smoking combustible products, non-combustible alternatives, often called smoke-free products, such as heated tobacco products (HTPs), electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), and modern oral nicotine pouches have emerged as options for adult cigarette smokers interested in switching to a potentially less harmful product. This Basic will explore these alternatives as a form of harm reduction.