"Why are Less Hazardous Cigarettes (LHCs) not the mainstay of the market today? Their absence has been imputed to manufacturers’ inertia, but it could be linked more directly to stern U.S. prohibitionist policies of the past quarter-century. Partially effective in persuading many smokers to quit according to the Institute Of Medicine report, those policies have relentlessly opposed the promotion and thus the development of LHCs. The assumption has been that LHCs might tempt some to become smokers. Yet the IOM report finds that such a hypothetical may not hold against the certainty that LHCs will save lives, just as no serious argument could be raised to abolish seat belts on the theory they could induce some to drive faster."

"Over 20 years ago, the same misguided concern suppressed virtually the same recommendations and science that now support the Institute Of Medicine’s conclusions, as reported in 1979 by the Smoking and Health Program of the National Cancer Institute and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Considering the human costs of having denied the development of LHCs for more than 20 years, the present implication of the IOM report is that a continuing opposition to LHCs would not be an ethically defensible, humane, or realistic public health policy."