Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the objectives and assumptions of the NCI "less hazardous cigarette" program 2. Understand the problematic role of tobacco industry scientists in this program 3. Identify key obstacles to successfully pursuing targeted harm reduction research.
Abstract: The tobacco industry has recently stepped up its promotion of new “reduced carcinogen” tobacco products. Currently, there is substantial controversy within the tobacco control community about whether or not to support harm reduction research and, if so, how to do so responsibly. In addressing this challenge, there is much to be learned from past attempts to support harm reduction research and why they have not been successful.
Between 1967 and 1980, the National Cancer Institute’s Smoking and Health Program directed a research program with the goal of developing a “less hazardous cigarette”. The program’s advisory group included epidemiologists, engineers, biologists, and chemists from government, academia, and the tobacco industry. The group funded more than $25 million in contract research aimed at studying the characteristics and biological effects of different types of tobacco, different processing techniques, and various modifications to cigarettes. However, by 1977 national tobacco control policy had shifted away from the harm reduction approach, and a series of events eventually led to the end of the program.
I have analyzed the NCI Smoking and Health Program using tobacco industry documents available through the Legacy Tobacco Documents Archive and Tobacco Documents Online, as well as program records from federal agencies and oral histories with key people. I will discuss the activities of the program and the role of tobacco industry scientists in this research. I will also explain how policy changes in the late 1970s made the continuation of the program untenable and how these lessons can inform the current debate over harm reduction.
Back to Poster Session
Back to Public Policy and Advocacy Strategies
Back to The 2002 National Conference on Tobacco or Health