The tobacco reduction targets act: a legislated phase out for combustible cigarettes

Background and challenges to implementation The recent widespread marketing of alternative nicotine devices and heated tobacco products is heralded by some as a viable harm reduction strategy, and feared by others as a means of perpetuating the smoking epidemic. Missing from the often heated debate are proposals for ways to ensure that combustible products are removed from the market as these ´reduced risk´ products are introduced. Intervention or response In other markets involving such diverse consumer products as light bulbs, automobile fuel, refrigerators, the introduction of less harmful goods has been accompanied by requirements that the more harmful products are removed from the market. Such interventions have yet to be implemented for the manufactured cigarette or other combustible tobacco products. Regulatory approaches developed for these other goods are available as an ENDGAME tool for tobacco control, and prototype legislation developed for Canada illustrates one of many ways in which this can be done. Results and lessons learnt Much has been learned from how harmful products can be successfully phased out. The challenge remains to see how well these lessons can be applied to a proposed phase-out of combustible tobacco products. Conclusions and key recommendations Voluntary efforts by tobacco companies to remove combustible products from the market cannot be relied upon. Legislative approaches to remove the most harmful products from circulation can be developed as a next generation tobacco control measures