Citation

Fairchild A, Colgrove J. Am. J. Public Health 2004; 94(2): 192-204.

Affiliation

Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. alf4@columbia.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, American Public Health Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14759927

PMCID

PMC1448228

Abstract

From 1964 through the early 1980s, both federal and voluntary agencies endorsed the concept of "safer" cigarettes. Beginning in the mid-1980s, several factors, including revelations of tobacco industry malfeasance, the development of nicotine replacement therapy, and the reconceptualization of smoking as a chronic disease, led to "safer" cigarettes being discredited. In the past few years, some public health professionals have begun to reconsider the viability of developing such products. The issue before us is stark: will a commitment to limiting the toll exacted by smoking preclude the tolerance of a product that while not safe may possibly be safer?

Language: en