The Transition from Combustible to Smokeless Products Science

Traditionally and in addition to efforts to reduce the risk associated with tobacco products, companies' research focused on areas such as understanding the products or measuring tobacco and smoke,^[1] while academic researchers focused on medical studies relating to the harm caused by cigarette smoking.^[2] Tobacco and nicotine science was typically published in specialist tobacco- or combustion-related scientific journals and presented at scientific conferences.

The 21st century saw a new wave of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) interest that changed the landscape.^[3] There became a need to publish data on new categories of products, including Heated Products, Vapour Products, and Oral Nicotine Pouches, to contribute to the scientific understanding of how they performed chemically and toxicologically. This coincided with cross-industry and government efforts to develop new ways of testing products that did not involve the use of animals.^[4]