Tobacco harm reduction and progressive regulation work hand-in hand: BAT

BAT Director – Science and Research Dr. James Murphy

British American Tobacco’s (BAT) Director – Science and Research Dr. James Murphy is urging countries around the world to adopt ‘progressive regulation’ to accommodate smokeless alternatives which are far less harmful than cigarettes.

According to BAT, cigarette consumption has declined dramatically over the past decade, during which time the number of adult consumers of ‘smokeless’ products has grown to an estimated 115 million. Furthermore, smokeless product use has increased with the global number of adult consumers growing by 70% between 2020 and 2024.

As opposed to highly harmful combustion products, ‘smokeless’ alternatives include heated products, oral tobacco products, vapour, and oral nicotine pouches. In an exclusive with Daily FT, Dr. Murphy cited Sweden, New Zealand, Poland, the UK, and Japan among countries who have successfully reduced tobacco smoking by opting for progressive regulations promoting these smokeless products.

On its part, in tandem with public health concerns and consumer preferences, BAT has come up with a new vision to ‘Build A Better Tomorrow’ through a ‘Smokeless World.’ It is also playing a progressive role with regard to Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) – which involves complete switching of adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke combustible tobacco products like cigarettes, to lower risk profile smokeless alternatives.

BAT is keen to build a smokeless world by advancing THR. It also believes innovative smokeless products provide sustainable solutions to improve public health whilst meeting its business goals. 

At a recent presentation to international media, including the Daily FT, at BAT’s R&D Centre in Southampton, England, Dr. Murphy revealed that BAT’s smokeless products are available in over 80 markets, aiming to achieve 50 million adult consumers of smokeless products by 2030 and 50% of the company’s revenue to come from smokeless products by 2035.

At present, smokeless products contribute GBP 3.3 billion or 18% of BAT’s revenue, according to Dr. Murphy. BAT’s smokeless products are free from the combustion associated with cigarettes and have substantially (90-99%) reduced levels of a number of toxic chemicals which are believed to be the primary cause of smoking-related diseases.

At the presentation, BAT unveiled a 10-point progressive regulatory framework. It covers legal access and differentiated regulation; high-quality and safety standards; child resistance and/or tamper-evident; nicotine limits; prohibit underage use; age verification; flavour restrictions; responsible packaging and descriptors; adult-targeted communications, and Robust enforcement and sanctions.

Dr. Murphy is of the view that world-class objective science is crucial and THR requires multi-stakeholder collaboration; regulators need science to form the basis of regulation and public health scientists require it to assess population health impact. “Tobacco and nicotine science is necessary as regulators require specific data on the manufactured products. Independent science is also required from other stakeholders, whether it is from public health authorities, tobacco control, or regulators,” he added.

In light of this, BAT launched Omni, a comprehensive and evidence-based scientific resource that brings together hundreds of independent scientific studies, BAT’s own research into its innovations, and examples of THR in action. Given the significant public health opportunity presented by THR, BAT hopes that Omni will spur dialogues with public health authorities, regulators, policymakers, and investors, and across the wider scientific and regulatory ecosystem related to tobacco and nicotine products.

Unfortunately, according to Dr. Murphy, there remain few scientific forums where all stakeholders (industry included) can discuss scientific evidence and come to common conclusions on THR science to drive progress forward.

“We urgently need public health stakeholders to take the lead and offer to chair forums where all parties can participate in an active dialogue on THR,” opines Dr. Murphy.