Our Mission
Our Manifesto is a bold rallying cry, demanding your attention to respond to the evolving issues around tobacco and nicotine, and urging you to take action. We are committed to shedding light on the importance of policies that address a changing landscape in tobacco and nicotine use.
Total Quit™ has the goal of helping stakeholders understand, evaluate and prioritise the societal and health challenges we potentially face from this cultural shift to alternative tobacco and nicotine products.
We call on you to respond decisively to these issues through policy change. Together with future partners, the Total Quit campaign will make the case for a ‘Total Quit ’, communicating the value and benefits of being able to live a life free of tobacco and nicotine.
Our Mission
Our Manifesto is a bold rallying cry, demanding your attention to respond to the evolving issues around tobacco and nicotine, and urging you to take action. We are committed to shedding light on the importance of policies that address a changing landscape in tobacco and nicotine use.
Total Quit has the goal of helping stakeholders understand, evaluate and prioritise the societal and health challenges we potentially face from this cultural shift to alternative tobacco and nicotine products.
We call on you to respond decisively to these issues through policy change. Together with future partners, the Total Quit campaign will make the case for a ‘Total Quit’, communicating the value and benefits of being able to live a life free of tobacco and nicotine.
Our Mission
Our Manifesto is a bold rallying cry, demanding your attention to respond to the evolving issues around tobacco and nicotine, and urging you to take action. We are committed to shedding light on the importance of policies that address a changing landscape in tobacco and nicotine use.
Total Quit™ has the goal of helping stakeholders understand, evaluate and prioritise the societal and health challenges we potentially face from this cultural shift to alternative tobacco and nicotine products.
We call on you to respond decisively to these issues through policy change. Together with future partners, the Total Quit campaign will make the case for a ‘Total Quit ’, communicating the value and benefits of being able to live a life free of tobacco and nicotine.
We have identified five imperatives that highlight the need for enhanced regulation of existing and new tobacco and nicotine formats for non-therapeutic use and delivery methods to safeguard our societies today and to protect generations to come. Total Quit must be our ultimate goal.
Challenges in the Current Landscape
Use of vaping/e-cigarette among young people is a well-documented and concerning development that has broad implications for society and our children’s health.
Harm Reduction on the Path to Complete Cessation
Alternative tobacco and nicotine products can help some smokers reduce or quit smoking, but the ultimate goal should be complete cessation of both tobacco and nicotine. Policies must ensure access to cessation tools and support for smokers and alternative tobacco and nicotine product users to complete their journey.
Health Challenges
Alternative tobacco and nicotine products have proven health risks but there is a lack of long-term data1. While reducing tobacco use is positive, recreational use of alternative tobacco and nicotine products should not be confused with the use of licensed medicines to help people quit smoking.
Societal Impacts
The exponential rise of alternative tobacco and nicotine product use poses environmental challenges. While some countries, such as the UK, have banned single use vapes, more needs to be done to address the largely unregulated disposal of single-use vapes which pose environmental challenges. Additionally, widespread use can have financial impacts, particularly in disadvantaged communities, adding to societal burdens.
The Need for Action
Governments need to prioritise strategies that promote a Total Quit: total cessation of tobacco and nicotine, and regulate alternative tobacco and nicotine products to prevent the uptake by youth and never-smokers. Ongoing research, dialogue and education are essential to guide these efforts.
Challenges in the Current Landscape
We are seeing a rise in the use of recreational alternative tobacco and nicotine products, which includes vapes/e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products/heat-not-burn, tobacco snus and nicotine pouches. Whilst these products are less harmful alternatives to traditional cigarettes,2 they are gaining popularity,3 especially amongst younger consumers, and many formats still see nicotine inhaled via the lungs in high, addictive doses:4
The average weekly nicotine consumption amongst vapers is more than double the amount of an average smoker.5, 6, 7
One in five recreational alternative tobacco and nicotine product users start using these products without ever having smoked, and hence are not using these as smoking cessation products.8
Children aged 13-15 are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults in all WHO regions:
E-cigarette use among Canadians aged 16-19 has doubled between 2017-2022,9 and in 2025, 20% of children in Britain aged 11-17 have tried vaping, with 7% currently vaping.8
The persistent effects of nicotine on developing brains means it is harder for adolescents to quit in the future.10
Increasing production and use of alternative tobacco and nicotine products, combined with the largely unregulated disposal of single use vapes/e-cigarettes, are beginning to have a detrimental impact on the environment. Their production and excessive use also come with financial burden to the individual, and potentially society, in the long-term.
Prior to the disposable vapes ban that came into effect on 1st June 2025, five million disposable vapes were thrown away each week in the UK.11
While the annual personal cost of vaping varies based on frequency of use, vapers in the UK spend on average between several hundred and several thousand pounds per year on vaping.12, 13, 14
Understanding this rising challenge, policymakers in some markets are beginning to regulate packaging, marketing, and flavour options of vapes/e-cigarettes:
Belgium, New Zealand and the UK have approved disposable vaping/e-cigarette bans, with more countries considering future legislation.15
Globally, as many as 121 countries or territories regulate electronic nicotine delivery systems, based on a 2023 WHO report. This includes 33 countries that have moved to ban their sale, and 87 that have implemented regulations such as age restrictions on sales, bans on advertising and prohibiting vaping in public indoor areas.16, 17
Harm Reduction on the Path to Complete Cessation
Any step away from tobacco is a positive step, but we need to ensure smokers and alternative tobacco and nicotine product users have support in their journey to complete cessation. Some current alternative tobacco and nicotine product users see these products as a means of stopping smoking. However, many continue to smoke and want help to quit – 1 in 3 get stuck on their journey to complete cessation.8
We must also ensure that the promise of harm reduction via alternative tobacco and nicotine product use must not facilitate swapping a harmful addiction to cigarettes, for a needless, costly and potentially harmful addiction to an alternative product. When alternative tobacco and nicotine products are used recreationally, rather than for smoking cessation, they typically become products of perpetual use:
Alternative tobacco and nicotine products that are not classified as a medicine are developed for non-therapeutic purposes and so do not go through the same stringent process and standards as medicines; there is no appropriate dosage recommendation, patient support or guidance on the period of use, which can lead to continued dependency and chronic use.
Alternative tobacco and nicotine products can also include much higher doses of nicotine than nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs) which are regulated as medicinal products. NRTs are designed to help individuals reduce and eventually eliminate nicotine consumption, while some alternative tobacco and nicotine products contain more nicotine than any recommended doses of NRT. For instance, some nicotine pouches contain up to 50 mg of nicotine per pouch,18 compared with 1-4 mg in medicinal NRTs.19
Given the risk of continued dependency with alternative tobacco and nicotine products, we must ensure smokers looking to quit have access to tools designed and proven to maximise harm reduction on the route to full cessation.
Health Challenges
While health impacts of alternative tobacco and nicotine products are beginning to emerge, more research is needed into the long-term health risks associated with recreational alternative tobacco and nicotine products.1
A comparison of pulmonary effects of heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco products shows immediate negative changes in exhaled carbon monoxide levels, oxygen saturation, and airway function immediately after use.20
The addictive properties of nicotine frequently result in prolonged tobacco snus use, risking exposure to toxins that can impact overall health.23
Ingredients in recreational alternative tobacco and nicotine products have well-documented adverse health impacts. For example, tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), found in numerous nicotine pouches are known carcinogenic chemicals and can harm blood vessels.22
There are signs that e-cigarette vapour can irritate the lungs and might keep causing harm, especially in smokers with lungs already damaged by tobacco smoke.1
Societal Impacts
The environmental harm of manufacturing and disposing of single-use vapes has become a global concern. Disposable vapes not only contain plastic but also rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and toxic metals that can leach into the environment.24,25 In the UK alone, prior to the ban coming into effect on 1st June 2025, up to five million disposable vapes were thrown away each week.11
The financial and social burden of prolonged recreational alternative tobacco and nicotine product use on individual consumers is also considerable:
Continued nicotine addiction imposes a financial burden on users. Weekly vapers in the UK could see annual savings of several hundred pounds by quitting,26 while daily vapers could save up to £2,70014 . Based on an average annual UK salary of £37,430, as of April 2025,27 vapers could save up to more than 7% of their annual pre-tax income by quitting.
It is well known that globally the prevalence of smoking is higher in disadvantaged communities and that smokers have a higher prevalence of mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Early indications suggest this may also be true of vaping.28,29
Achieving a Total Quit carries many benefits to individuals and society, such as improved health, better financial well-being, and a greater sense of autonomy, in addition to the positive environmental benefits.
The Need for Action
We call on policymakers to prioritise a policy agenda that promotes and supports a Total Quit and make a commitment to working towards a tobacco and nicotine free future.
To support a global Total Quit, Kenvue recommends the following actions for the Government in the United Kingdom:
Regulate consumer nicotine to address brightly coloured vape packaging and flavour descriptors, and review the strength of nicotine in recreational products that may encourage addiction rather than help people quit.
Restrict inappropriate promotion, including advertising, point-of-sale displays, and marketing strategies that make alternative tobacco and nicotine products like heated tobacco, vapes and pouches attractive to young people or fuel the illicit vapes market.
Increase access to and investment in cessation programmes, including professional support and education - both online and in person - that address all forms of nicotine addiction, not just smoking.
Introduce new targets to monitor and prioritise reductions in youth vaping rates, and re-commit funding to a national mass media campaign to encourage quitting and educate the public on the harms of nicotine dependency.
Future proof regulation to cover future innovation.
Invest in long-term research on the health and societal impacts of alternative tobacco and nicotine product use.
As we navigate this evolving landscape of tobacco and nicotine use, ongoing and future-focused research will be essential to inform and shape effective management approaches for Total Quit.
References
1. Staudt, M. R., Salit, J., Kaner, R. J., Hollmann, C., & Crystal, R. G. (2018). Altered lung biology of healthy never smokers following acute inhalation of E-cigarettes. Respiratory research, 19(1), 1-10.
2. Royal College of Physicians. Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction. London: RCP, 2016.
3. Tobacco Intelligence.What will the year ahead bring? Expected tobacco and nicotine regulation in 2024. https://tobaccointelligence.com/what-will-the-hear-ahead-bring-expected-tobacco-and-nicotine-regulation-in-2024/ . Last accessed December 2024.
4. Giovacchini CX, Crotty Alexander LE, Que LG. Electronic Cigarettes: A Pro-Con Review of the Current Literature. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2022 Nov;10(11):2843-2851. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2022.07.009. Epub 2022 Jul 21. PMID: 35872217.
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