Understanding what consumers think, feel, and do is essential to generating robust evidence on tobacco and nicotine products.

In this GFN Science Lab session, Christelle Chrea discusses the role of consumer-reported outcome measures (CROMs) in tobacco and nicotine research, and the challenges involved in measuring consumer perceptions, behaviours, and experiences.

The session explores the distinction between descriptive measures, which capture observable behaviours such as product use and frequency, and psychometric measures, which assess underlying constructs such as risk perception, dependence, and other cognitive, perceptual, and affective dimensions.

What happens when a government bans safer nicotine alternatives instead of regulating them?

In this GFN Voices episode from #GFN26, Brent Stafford speaks with Dr. Mariana Hoyo (Mexico) and Gina Reyes (Colombia) about how two neighboring countries have taken very different approaches to vaping—and what those policies mean for public health.

How do people actually transition between different nicotine products over time? Are young people who experiment with e-cigarettes more likely to become smokers, and is dual use a long-term pattern or simply part of the journey away from cigarettes?

Drawing on a decade of data from the U.S. Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, this presentation explores how nicotine product use changes among both underage and adult populations. Using longitudinal evidence that follows the same individuals over time, it examines real-world transitions between cigarettes, smoke-free products, dual use, and non-use.

Prohibition cannot eliminate consumer demand. It’s an iron rule of free markets. As lower-risk nicotine products remain stuck under FDA review, illicit products proliferate to fill the void. Shot on location at GFN 2026 in Warsaw, Poland, Altria’s Dr. Mohamadi Sarkar argues that slow authorization decisions have left regulators playing enforcement “whack-a-mole” while adult smokers wait for more FDA-authorized alternatives.

Featuring:

DR. MOHAMADI SARKAR

Regulatory Science & Engagement, Altria

Affiliate Prof., Clinical Pharmacology, VCU

@AltriaScience

The debate over prohibition often focuses on intentions, but the real question is whether restrictive policies achieve their public health goals. As governments around the world consider tighter controls on nicotine and tobacco products, evidence continues to raise important questions about the unintended consequences of prohibition, including the growth of illicit markets, the role of organized crime, lost tax revenue, and reduced access to lower-risk alternatives for adults who smoke.

How much nicotine remains in a nicotine pouch after months of storage? And can formulation design improve long-term stability?

In this presentation, Anna Balconi explores preliminary research comparing conventional microcrystalline cellulose (MCC)-based nicotine pouches with a novel semi-gel-based formulation developed by Alchem NicSelect. The study examines how nicotine content changes over time and investigates whether different pouch architectures can reduce degradation caused by oxidation and evaporation.

Despite decades of prohibition, smoking remains one of the leading preventable causes of disease and death worldwide. So why do policies that restrict safer alternatives often fail to improve public health?

Leading experts examine the unintended consequences of prohibition, arguing that banning lower-risk nicotine products does not eliminate demand—it simply shifts consumers toward illicit markets and more harmful products. Drawing on real-world examples from countries including Brazil, Mexico and the United States, they discuss how restrictive policies can undermine public health objectives, fuel illegal trade, and make product regulation more difficult.

What’s really inside nicotine pouches? While these products are often treated as a single category, their composition can vary significantly.

In this GFN Science Lab presentation, Lindsay Reese presents one of the largest compositional analyses of nicotine pouches to date, covering 446 fully tested products from 2025 (drawn from more than 500 products analyzed). The research explores key characteristics such as nicotine content, moisture, pH, impurities, heavy metals, and other chemical constituents, offering a detailed look at the diversity of products available across global markets.

What are the fundamental principles of harm reduction and how can they be applied to many areas of human activity? How can tobacco harm reduction be integrated into mainstream practice to reduce the harms of smoking for those most at risk – illicit drug users, those with poor mental health and others marginalised through economic and legal constraints? What are the obstacles to integration and how might we address and overcome these?

Among more than 100,000 people who used heroin in England, smoking accounted for 24% of premature deaths, nearly matching illegal drugs at 28%. Yet smoking remains routinely overlooked within drug treatment and harm reduction services.

Shot on location at GFN 2026 in Warsaw, Poland, David MacKintosh of the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction explains how integrating safer nicotine could deliver a low-cost, high-impact intervention that helps people live longer and healthier lives.

Featuring:

DAVID MACKINTOSH

Director, Knowledge Action Change

Fmr. Chair of Trustees, Drug and Alcohol Services London

kachange.eu