Abstract
Under US law, tobacco products may be authorized to claim lower exposure to chemicals, or lower risk of health harms. We sought to examine the harm perceptions and beliefs about potential modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs). We recruited 864 adult current and former smokers in August 2019. Participants read a paragraph describing the potential for the FDA to authorize MRTPs and a brief description of MRTPs. The most endorsed beliefs for each product were that they contained nicotine and that they were risky. Believing that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit smoking, that they tasted good, and looked cool were associated with greater odds of intending to try e-cigarettes after controlling for demographic and use factors. For snus, the beliefs that the product was not addictive and tasted good were associated with increased odds of intending to try snus. The beliefs that heated tobacco would taste good and would be a good quit aid was associated with increased odds of intentions to try heated tobacco products. Understanding what the public believes about products currently or potentially authorized to be marketed as modified risk tobacco products can inform communication efforts.
Highlights
There is a growing recognition among tobacco control experts that tobacco products pose different levels of risk which exist along a “continuum of risk” [1,2]
Health mass media campaigns that follow principles of effective campaigns can have moderate effects on health knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors [30,31]. One of these principles is helping campaign designers understand the nature of the behavior, for a campaign can only be effective if the beliefs targeted by the campaign impact the intended behavior. The purpose of this this study is to provide valuable baseline data about smokers’ and former smokers’ beliefs about three products that currently have been or have the potential to be authorized as modified risk tobacco products
We recruited 864 adult current and former smokers through Dynata to complete an online survey in August 2019, before any products had been authorized as modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs) and before e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) was in the news
Summary
There is a growing recognition among tobacco control experts that tobacco products pose different levels of risk which exist along a “continuum of risk” [1,2]. While switching to products lower on the risk continuum may have the potential for harm reduction among those smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit cigarettes; research indicates that users’ perceptions about the comparative risks of tobacco products are often inconsistent with the continuum of risk. Many tobacco control experts have called for more accurate communication about the risks of such products relative to cigarettes [8,9,10]. Smokers may be receptive to such communications, with about half reporting they would be interested in using a tobacco product that claimed to be less harmful than other tobacco products [11,12]
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