How a debate over vaping might derail the war on tobacco

By MARC GUNTHER of The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Chronicle of Philanthropy

Anti-smoking groups aren’t just fighting the tobacco companies these days. They’re fighting, sometimes bitterly, among themselves. The stakes are high. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, killing about 480,000 people a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. To succeed, they have to work through the “very fraught, polarized environment” that hampers the nonprofits, foundations, governments, and academics who work on tobacco control. They have fractured over tobacco harm reduction — the idea that people who cannot or will not quit smoking should be provided with alternatives, notably e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine without burning tobacco.