F E AT U R E
Fig 2: Illustration of puffing behaviour
Characterising Vaping Products
Figure 1: Framework for the scientific assessment of potential reduced risk products
collective risk of the population using
the products.
This framework has evolved from a
prototype framework developed in the
course of work to develop a reduced-risk
combustible cigarette. Scientists have
spent several years researching the
nature of tobacco smoke, identifying key
toxicants and developing technologies
to reduce toxicant levels in smoke.
Laboratory tests showed that these
technologies could successfully reduce
levels of some toxicants in smoke, and
clinical testing revealed that smokers’
exposure to these toxicants was also
reduced. But in the case of cigarettes,
the reduction in toxicants did not prove
significant enough, at least in the shorter
term, to be meaningful in terms of
health risks5.
Innovative new tobacco and nicotine
products, by contrast to modified
cigarettes, have significantly reduced
toxicant levels. We have observed
reductions of 90% and more in the levels
of certain toxicants present in these
new tobacco and nicotine products.
These reductions are reflected when the
aerosols are applied to cell-based tests
in the lab