Dear Editor:

Even though cigarette smoking rates may be down, smoking is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. This makes the results of a recent survey even more concerning, as they reveal that widespread confusion about nicotine among both doctors and consumers could be preventing adults from switching to less harmful forms of nicotine and tobacco consumption.

This misunderstanding is rampant among both the general public and the medical community regarding the role that nicotine plays – or rather, doesn’t play – in the health risks associated with smoking. According to the survey, two-thirds of healthcare professionals are either unsure of whether nicotine causes cancer, or worse, mistakenly believe that it does.

For years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that it is not nicotine that causes the serious health effects among those who use tobacco products, but the toxic mix of chemicals in cigarette smoke. Despite this science being well established, accurate information is clearly not being effectively relayed to the medical community at large, allowing misinformation to fill the void.

Perhaps even more telling is the fact that 69 percent of healthcare practitioners want the FDA to share the clinical evidence on the role that smoke-free nicotine and tobacco products paly in harm reduction. An overwhelming 95 percent also say they would pass that information along to patients. 

The FDA has both an opportunity and a responsibility to set the record straight on nicotine and lead a more effective harm reduction strategy that supports the transition to smoke-free options to promote better public health outcomes.

Lu Jones, RN