Scientific Evidence Should Suggest a Middle Way

Prof. Dr. Amaliya presented her research at national and international forums. Most recently, she attended a tobacco harm reduction conference in Warsaw, Poland, in 2023. Her active participation in conferences exposed her to much research.

Tapping into her wealth of experience in attending conferences, Prof. Dr. Amaliya became aware that the evidence of the impact of using alternative tobacco products for tobacco harm reduction was solid.

Scientific publications on these products were not only preliminary or early-stage research with limited respondents, but they had been systematically reviewed, or research conducted by systematically analyzing the evidence obtained from dozens of studies with the same theme.

Science as a Middle Ground

Prof. Dr. Amaliya admitted that the best way to promote public health is not to use tobacco altogether. She further added that scientific evidence should be able to encourage a middle ground, especially for smokers who found it a challenge or chose not to quit, allowing them to reduce the negative impact on themselves and their surroundings.

"It would be ideal to give up smoking," she said. "But despite being aware of the risks, smokers still don't quit. We need to think of alternatives so that they won’t continue with their smoking habit, which is obviously harmful, by making them switch to alternative products with a lower risk profile."

Therefore, the government receptiveness towards scientific evidence on alternative tobacco products is essential. So far, alternative tobacco products are scientifically proven to have up to 75-95 percent lower risk of exposure to harmful and potentially harmful chemical compounds than cigarettes.

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From an academic perspective, researchers need to be open (to possibilities). According to Prof. Dr. Amaliya, more encouragement is central to mobilize alternative tobacco product research involving multiple parties. Collaboration between universities, the private sector, and the public, including users of tobacco products, is crucial.

"Learning from personal experience, there are those who were initially skeptical about alternative tobacco products but gradually became interested in participating in research and collaboration," she concluded. This can be an important lesson that collaboration can help us achieve uniformity of vision and eliminate sentiment and bias in knowledge.