<span>It is 1960, and New York advertising executive Don Draper steps into his office lighting up a Lucky Strike, his </span><span>brand of cigarette. </span> <span>Gazing across the Manhattan skyline, the suave Draper fills the room with smoke as he coolly exhales, pondering his next big </span><span>advertising move.</span> <span>The award-winning </span><span><em>Mad Men</em></span><span> TV series captured an era when smoking was cool, the tobacco trade was booming and cigarettes were promoted as a healthy living choice.</span> <span>"People love smoking," a junior </span><span>told Draper in one episode, as the two discussed their latest ad campaign.</span> <span>Lucky Strike was often central to the plot of the series. </span><span>In the real world, sales of the brand soared after the show was first broadcast</span><span> in 2007, with smoking at the heart of the masculinity </span><span>of its main characters.</span> <span>But later in the series, Draper's wife Betty discovered she had lung cancer</span><span>.</span> <span>The industry has been forced to change since the peak of Big Tobacco in the </span><span><em>Mad Men</em></span><span> era. Demonised for selling half-truths and misinformation, "harm reduction" is the now the buzzword of cigarette companies as they try to regain a faltering foothold against fierce competition.</span> <span>E-cigarettes are the coming force</span><span>, and while bubble gum flavoured vaping creates moral panic among parents, schools and detractors, industry experts </span><span>are changing their tune.</span> <span>Experts at this week’s global conference on the industry in Georgetown, Washington, said they were encouraging smokers to turn to e-cigarettes.</span> <span>While the long term health problems associated with e-cigarettes and vaping remain largely unknown because the devices are relatively new, the damage caused by conventional smoking is a proven fact supported by decades of medical research.</span> <span>“If a smoker is unable to give up combustibles, they should switch to e-cigarettes – that is the opinion of the US Food and Drug Administration, Public Health England and the American Heart Association,” said Tom Miller, Attorney General of Iowa.</span> <span>Mr Miller is known for his long fight to reduce the huge death toll and financial burden of tobacco addiction</span><span>, particularly on behalf of children and US taxpayers.</span> <span>He forged an agreement across the US that led to the tobacco industry paying out billions of dollars and chang</span><span>ed the way it conducted business.</span> <span>“It’s just not true that e-cigarettes act as a gateway to regular tobacco, and there is a lot of deception in this area from people trying to prove e-cigarettes are approaching the harm levels of combustibles,” Mr Miller said.</span> <span>"I know </span><span>nothing about young people using e-cigarettes that should get in the way of that. They offer a significant aid in cessation."</span> <span>Other experts said that much of what was being peddled by government regulators was causing harm by encouraging smokers to stick with cigarettes. And smokers should be given the choice.</span> <span>Japan is leading the international market in adoption of non-combustible alternatives, where regular smoking has fallen by about 32 per cent. That has, in part, been attributed to widespread use of a device </span><span>from tobacco giant Philip Morris International.</span> <span>In 2014, Japan was chosen as the market to launch the iQos device, the last great hope of the tobacco industry. The gadget heats tobacco leaves at a very high temperature to offer a similar taste and experience to conventional cigarettes, without the harmful carcinogens.</span> <span>Although iQos sales were slow at first in Japan, they rose rapidly </span><span>in 2016 </span><span>after six popular comedians praised them on </span><span>TV ... and a craze was born.</span> <span>One of the comics, Terumoto Goto, a household name in the country, held aloft a red iQos and said: “It doesn’t release smoke. It’s like steam coming out of my mouth.”</span> <span>Rooftop iQos bars and shops soon appeared around </span><span>central Tokyo to accommodate the booming market. But despite the popularity of iQos in Japan, regulation and legislation continues to provide barriers against</span><span> the device</span><span>.</span> <span>In March, the Ministry of Health in New Zealand, where e-cigarettes are banned under similar regulation to th</span><span>ose in the UAE, charged Philip Morris with selling such products.</span> <span>A judge agreed with the company's defence that although </span><span>the </span><span>tobacco sticks bur</span><span>nt in the devices may have </span><span>risks, the product is not as harmful as ordinary cigarette</span><span>s.</span> <span>The ruling could be a major development in how the devices are accepted as vaping regulation </span><span>develops.</span> <span>In October, researchers from the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Washington published the first study to model public health results if cigarette smoking were replaced by e-cigarettes.</span> ________________ <strong>Read more:</strong> <strong><a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/special-report-medical-opinion-shifts-from-tolerating-e-cigs-to-actively-promoting-them-to-smokers-1.726529">Special report: Medical opinion shifts from tolerating e-cigs to actively promoting them to smokers</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.thenational.ae/business/happiness-in-advertising-too-much-of-a-good-thing-1.146840">Happiness in advertising: Too much of a good thing?</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/health/electronic-heated-tobacco-products-just-as-harmful-as-conventional-cigarettes-study-finds-1.713954">Electronic heated-tobacco products 'just as harmful as conventional cigarettes' study finds</a></strong> _________________ <span>Investigators led by oncology professor David Levy looked at variables including harm from e-cigarettes, youth uptake and rates of those who quit smoking. They concluded that up to 6.6 million US smokers would live substantially longer if cigarette smoking was replaced by vaping over a decade.</span> <span>"We've found ourselves at the crossroads at the harm reduction debate from other products</span><span>," said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA Centre for Tobacco Products. "All roads lead back to combustible cigarettes as they are designed to maintain </span><span>an addiction.</span> <span>"There is a recognition that considerable risk still exists</span><span> but we now have a</span><span> vision where cigarettes will no longer create a sustainable addiction and that nicotine will be available from alternative sources."</span> <span>So although vaping and similar </span><span>methods of "smoking" do not solve the health burden caused by </span><span>nicotine addiction, they can temper it, which is promising given their continued popularity and growing visibility in popular culture. </span> <span>Perhaps in many years, TV shows looking back at our near future will feature a dapper young professional, e-cigarette in hand, nonchalantly puffing a cloud of steam into the sky.</span> <span>“People hate smoking,” he might say.</span>