Dr. Brad Rodu talks about the factors driving a dramatic decrease in cigarette smoking with radio host Rob Schilling on The Schilling Show/WINA Charlottesville, VA.
Dr. Brad Rodu is a man on a mission: to save the millions of lives currently at risk from smoking cigarettes. While a quitting is a formidable challenge for many smokers, Dr. Rodu’s answer is simple: If you can’t fight the urge to smoke, then switch completely to a safer delivery system to get your nicotine. Whether it’s e-cigarettes or smokeless tobacco products such as dip and chew or Swedish snus, there are myriad ways to achieve a successful segue from cigarettes – if these products remain to be had. And there is a host of government and institutional forces allied to make sure there is diminishing availability for all. It is an understandable but misguided zero-sum take-no-prisoners effort to prevent youth from using these products and to prevent another generation of nicotine users. In the meantime, adult smokers are dying or sealing their fate by remaining smokers because the truth about safer nicotine delivery products is withheld by tobacco prohibitionists guiding tobacco policy in NGO health organizations and government/public health institutions.
The CDC reports historic record lows on smoking. One of the reasons, Dr. Rodu notes, is that smokers are switching to smoke-free non-combustible products. Vaping products and smokeless tobaccos such as Swedish snus should be readily available to adults and through age and retail restrictions and sensible regulatory control of safety and quality. For this reason, Dr. Rodu is an advocate of Tobacco 21, as posted recently on his blog rodutobaccotruth.com. Those already in the know or who want to be educated on the issues of Tobacco Harm Reduction turn regularly to Rodutobaccotruth.com where he parses and analyzes the false statements and faulty science promoted and practiced by many in the anti-tobacco camps.
Dr. Brad Rodu is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute, and professor of medicine at the University of Louisville, where he holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research at James Graham Brown Cancer Center. His analysis and research, as detailed on his blog, provide an outstanding resource for anyone wishing to learn about the facts and science of tobacco harm reduction, and who seeks to understand and make sense of the complexities, politics and scientific debate that permeate this field.F
