What is harm reduction?
According to the Institute of Medicine's 2001 report Clearing the Smoke, "a product (or strategy) is harm reducing if it lowers total tobacco-related mortality and morbidity even though use of that product (or strategy) may involve continued exposure to tobacco-related toxins."

What is the role of harm reduction in the tobacco control efforts?
Among the 48.5 million Americans who smoke, 41% attempt to quit, and only 4.7% of them stop smoking for three months to a year. That means that the majority of smokers are unwilling or unable to quit. Methods for intervention in this population must be explored that will reduce the negative health consequences in these individuals.

To date, no harm reduction methods have been found to reduce risk of mortality and morbidity. Tobacco prevention and cessation are the only proven way to reduce tobacco-related disease.

What are the various strategies for reducing tobacco harm?

• Decreasing the levels of toxins found in tobacco and tobacco smoke
• Use of alternative nicotine or tobacco products with reduced toxicity compared with cigarette smoking, such as medicinal nicotine or smokeless tobacco
• Reduction in the amount of smoking in the smokers
• Public health policies and regulations such as increased taxes and smoking bans

To date, the best harm reduction strategy is quitting smoking entirely. However, long-term medicinal use of nicotine replacement agents is relatively less harmful than use of any available tobacco product.