Azim Chowdhury Quoted in Filter Article, “Tobacco Harm Reduction’s Prospects Under the Biden Administration”

Keller and Heckman Partner Azim Chowdhury was quoted in the Filter article, “Tobacco Harm Reduction’s Prospects Under the Biden Administration.” The article discusses how tobacco harms have been largely overlooked amid the pandemic and a volatile election.

The Biden-Harris administration will take office with a mission to promote public health based on scientific evidence. This could be good news for US tobacco harm reduction advocates, who have endured numerous legislative defeats during the Trump presidency, including the January 2020 imposition of nationwide partial vape flavor ban.

To help assess the outlook, Filter reached out to numerous experts with a variety of relevant specializations and perspectives, including Mr. Chowdhury, and asked, “What should Joe Biden realistically do to promote US tobacco harm reduction during his presidency?”

Mr. Chowdhury responded by saying, “The Biden-Harris administration has indicated that it will move quickly to reinstall science as a foundation for government policy; hopefully, that remains the case with respect to tobacco harm reduction. In addition to enforcing age and marketing restrictions to prevent illegal underage use, the new administration should emphasize the important goal of reducing, and hopefully eliminating, combustible cigarette use–which has dropped to historical lows (among all age groups), but seems to be on the rise again, in part due to misinformation and fearmongering over ENDS [electronic nicotine delivery systems] and other reduced-harm nicotine products. The Administration should make [the] effort to listen to all constituents—including the nearly 10 million American adults who rely on ENDS to stay off cigarettes. Not doing so will have serious consequences for the nation’s public health.”

To read the full article, please click here.