What is a PREP?
A PREP (Potential Reduced Exposure Product) is a product used instead of typical cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to try to reduce exposure to tobacco toxins. Much about PREPS and their ability or inability to reduce exposure is unknown. But if a PREP actually results in lowering exposure to tobacco toxins it also may be a product that offers less risk for tobacco-related disease.
Some PREPs look similar to traditional tobacco products. Others look or behave differently. PREPs are generally classified as combustible (smoked) and smokeless.
However, no PREP is known to be safe. Inhaling or using any tobacco product is not healthy. The only known way to reduce the risk of smoking is to quit.
PREPs include:
- Smoked tobacco products, such as low-nicotine cigarettes
- Cigarettes with novel filters
- Cigarettes that heat tobacco instead of burning it.
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Smokeless PREPs
Smokeless tobacco products include those that are cured so that they have lower contents of one type of carcinogen called tobacco-specific nitrosamines. In Sweden, these snuff products are called "snus". Snus is packaged in miniature pouches like a tiny tea bag, and placed between the lip and gum. Snus products are now being test marketed in the U.S. (e.g., Camel Snus, Taboka and Marlboro Snus).
Another type of smokeless PREP is a nicotine mint that also contains tobacco, called a cigalett or Ariva.
Quest is a reduced nicotine cigarette. Some smokers may falsely believe that Quest is a PREP. They mistakenly believe that smoking a lower nicotine cigarette will be less addictive, or that nicotine is the carcinogen in tobacco smoke. Nicotine is not a known human carcinogen, but a highly addictive agent that causes chemical dependency on cigarettes. Smoking lower nicotine cigarettes, however, is not known to reduce addiction.
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Are PREPs safe?
No PREP has been tested thoroughly enough to make the claim that using it is safer than smoking or using traditional smokeless tobacco products. Most PREP testing has been done by tobacco companies which have a financial interest in the success of their products. That's why the () has awarded a research and development grant to TobPRAC (Tobacco Product Assessment Consortium). TobPRAC scientists will perform unbiased tests and clinical trials to determine if PREPs are actually less harmful than traditional tobacco products.
TobPRAC and many scientists worldwide believe that if a PREP is found to meaningfully reduce exposure to tobacco toxins, it may play a part in a wide-ranging tobacco control plan. The plan would focus on encouraging people to quit smoking and never to start using tobacco products.
Right now, there are no known benefits to PREPs. However, the Institute of Medicine has determined that reducing harm from tobacco products is possible (). If PREPs can meaningfully reduce exposure to toxins, a benefit could be the potential for less disease in smokers. However, more independent evidence is required before lower exposure and lower risk of disease can be linked.
According to some advertisements from tobacco and other companies that manufacture PREPs, supposedly lower level yields of tobacco toxins may reduce the incidence of disease in smokers. Some companies make claims through press releases that look and read as truth. To date, no cigarette-like PREP has been sufficiently tested and proven to possibly reduce disease risk.
Some scientists believe that if smokers switch to smokeless tobacco products, they would be better off. However, this has not been directly tested.
For more information about PREPs, visit the following websites:
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