Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research

In recent years, the tobacco industry has been pushing a narrative that their newer lines of products—including electronic nicotine delivery devices—are offered in part to meet a social responsibility of providing potentially reduced-harm choices to their consumers. While some of the newer tobacco p...

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Autores principales: Sircar, Neil, Fleming, Mary E., Bialous, Stella A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9645767/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36388311
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1001036
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author Sircar, Neil
Fleming, Mary E.
Bialous, Stella A.
author_facet Sircar, Neil
Fleming, Mary E.
Bialous, Stella A.
author_sort Sircar, Neil
collection PubMed
description In recent years, the tobacco industry has been pushing a narrative that their newer lines of products—including electronic nicotine delivery devices—are offered in part to meet a social responsibility of providing potentially reduced-harm choices to their consumers. While some of the newer tobacco products might potentially be less harmful than combustible tobacco products, there is also significant deviation from the very concept of harm reduction when it is used for such a conspicuously commercialized purpose. The framing of commercialized tobacco harm reduction as a mere consumer preference by the industry is not clearly consistent with the core principles of harm reduction, let alone the human right to health and the highest attainable level of health. A human rights-based approach (HRBA) to harm reduction is a set of principles that frame an effort to respect and promote human rights, including the right to health. Whether the HRBA supports commercialized harm reduction requires study. We review industry materials from 2017 to 2022 to identify themes in the harm reduction narrative of the tobacco industry and analyse those themes using an HRBA to the tobacco harm reduction framework. Using this analysis, the industry's continued marketing of combustible products alongside their “potentially less harmful” products, and preference that their non-combustible products be regulated less strictly than cigarettes and cigars, adulterates the public health principles of harm reduction and undermines the right to health. We conclude that the tobacco industry's commercialized tobacco harm reduction is incompatible with a human rights-based approach to tobacco harm reduction.
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spelling pubmed-96457672022-11-15 Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research Sircar, Neil Fleming, Mary E. Bialous, Stella A. Front Public Health Public Health In recent years, the tobacco industry has been pushing a narrative that their newer lines of products—including electronic nicotine delivery devices—are offered in part to meet a social responsibility of providing potentially reduced-harm choices to their consumers. While some of the newer tobacco products might potentially be less harmful than combustible tobacco products, there is also significant deviation from the very concept of harm reduction when it is used for such a conspicuously commercialized purpose. The framing of commercialized tobacco harm reduction as a mere consumer preference by the industry is not clearly consistent with the core principles of harm reduction, let alone the human right to health and the highest attainable level of health. A human rights-based approach (HRBA) to harm reduction is a set of principles that frame an effort to respect and promote human rights, including the right to health. Whether the HRBA supports commercialized harm reduction requires study. We review industry materials from 2017 to 2022 to identify themes in the harm reduction narrative of the tobacco industry and analyse those themes using an HRBA to the tobacco harm reduction framework. Using this analysis, the industry's continued marketing of combustible products alongside their “potentially less harmful” products, and preference that their non-combustible products be regulated less strictly than cigarettes and cigars, adulterates the public health principles of harm reduction and undermines the right to health. We conclude that the tobacco industry's commercialized tobacco harm reduction is incompatible with a human rights-based approach to tobacco harm reduction. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9645767/ /pubmed/36388311 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1001036 Text en Copyright © 2022 Sircar, Fleming and Bialous. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Sircar, Neil
Fleming, Mary E.
Bialous, Stella A.
Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title_full Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title_fullStr Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title_full_unstemmed Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title_short Does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? Brief research
title_sort does a human rights-based approach to harm reduction support commercialized harm reduction? brief research
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9645767/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36388311
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1001036
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