Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was tasked with regulating tobacco products in 2009, a host of safer nicotine alternatives to combustible cigarettes have entered the market. The FDA has sought to incorporate these products as part of a harm reduction strategy where smokers who are unwilling or unable to quit cigarettes through traditional methods can switch to safer forms of nicotine consumption. There are more than 30 million smokers in the United States. Almost 500,000 Americans die of smoking-related diseases each year. Smokers also disproportionately come from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
The FDA recognizes a “continuum of risk” when it
