POTENTIALLY REDUCED EXPOSURE PRODUCTS (PREPs)
What are PREPs?
The best way to reduce the harm caused by smoking is to quit. The adverse effects of smoking are well documented, but not all smokers are ready to quit. In the past several years, tobacco companies have recognized this growing market and have introduced several potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs). PREPs are tobacco-based products that claim to reduce the exposure to and harm from the toxins found in tobacco.10
Some of these products are nicotine delivery devices that are lit the same way as a cigarette, but heat rather than burn (e.g. Eclipse, Accord). In theory, this reduces exposure to toxins by removing the combustion process. Others claim to achieve reduced levels of toxins through different tobacco curing or fermentation processes, or by adding chemicals (such as palladium) to the tobacco leaves (examples of cigarettes include OMNI and Advance cigarettes). Still others claim to contain reduced nicotine levels by using genetically engineered tobacco leaves (e.g. Quest). Lastly, there are several oral non-combustible tobacco products (e.g., Arriva and Stonewall, tobacco packets, Revel and Exalt) being marketed as tobacco alternatives to smoking, but not cessation products.
Are PREPs less harmful?
While quitting smoking is the surest way to reduce risk for disease from tobacco, several caveats should be noted when discussing PREPs. While the companies that market PREPs claim they reduce consumers' exposure to harmful toxins, independent research has not produced evidence to warrant claims that they significantly reduce risk of disease or toxin exposure. Indeed, the way in which PREPs are advertised is confusing to many consumers, leading them to erroneously believe that PREPs are safer or will help them quit smoking, claims which have not been confirmed.11
Click here for an interview with a leading authority, Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami, co-director of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC) at the University of Minnesota.
Click here for Dr. Hatsukami's paper entitled "Hope or Hazard? What Research Tells Us about Potentially Reduced-Exposure Tobacco Products"
References:
1 Watson, C., Polzin, G., Calafat, A., & Ashley, D. (2003). Determination of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide yields in the smoke of bidi cigarettes. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 5, 747-753.
2 Rahman, M. & Fukui, T. (2000). Bidi smoking and health. Public Health, 114, 123-127.
3 Nayak, K., Gett, S., Sharda, D. & Misra, S. (1989). Treadmill exercise testing in asymptomatic chronic smokers to detect latent coronary heart disease. Indian Heart Journal, 41, 62-65.
4 Gupta, P., Murti, P. & Bhonsle, R. (1996). Epidemiology of cancer by tobacco products and the significance of TSNA. Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 26, 183-198.
5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005). Tobacco use, access, and exposure of tobacco in media among middle and high school students - United States, 2004. Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, 54 (12), p. 298.
6 Malson, J., Lee, E., Murty, R., Moolchan, E., & Pickworth, W. (2003). Clove cigarette smoking: Biochemical, physiological, and subjective effects. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior, 73, 739-745.
7 Mangunnegoro, H. & Sutoyo, D. (1996). Environmental and occupational lung diseases in Indonesia. Respirology, 1, 85-93.
8 Anonymous. (1988). Evaluation of the health hazard of clove cigarettes. Council on Scientific Affairs. Journal of the American Medical Association, 260, 3641-3644.
9 Knishkowy, R. & Amitai, Y. (2005). Water-pipe (Narghile) smoking: An emerging health risk behavior. Pediatrics, 116, e113-e119.
Click here for link to full-text article.
10 Hatsukami, D. K. & Zeller, M. (2004). Tobacco harm reduction: The need for research to inform policy. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-hatsukami.html, April 2007.
11 Hamilton, W. L., diStefano-Norton, G., Ouellette, T. K., Rhodes, W. M., Kling, R., & Connolly, G. N. (2004). Smokers' responses to advertisements for regular and light cigarettes and potential reduced-exposure tobacco products. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 6 (Suppl. 3), S353-S362.
