Advancing THR in 2025 and TPA’s Priorities for 2026

In 2025, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) continued its work on tobacco harm reduction (THR) on behalf of taxpayers and consumers. For many years, TPA has supported efforts to expand consumer choice and ensure THR products, including e-cigarettes (i.e., vapes), heated tobacco products, nicotine replacement therapy, and smokeless and snus products, are available for consumers who want to quit smoking. These products deliver nicotine to adult consumers in a significantly less harmful way than traditional combustible cigarettes. Instead of prohibition, which has historically failed miserably to prevent smoking and has created illicit black markets that put consumers at risk, TPA supports legislative efforts that allow consumers to have access to regulated reduced-risk products.

Commonsense THR strategy embraces science and individual freedom, while reducing the harmful impacts of traditional cigarette smoking. Beyond the human cost of combustible tobacco, there are massive economic and taxpayer costs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates more than $350 billion annually in total costs, including roughly $225 billion for healthcare and more than $156 billion for lost work. This impacts governments, insurers, and employers through preventable disease, premature death, and diminished productivity.

This year, TPA published more than 40 blog posts and opinion editorials addressing THR issues at the local, state, federal, and international levels. TPA represented taxpayers and consumers in more than a dozen states by submitting testimony on various legislative proposals. TPA stood firm opposing excise taxes on tobacco and vapor products, restrictions on nicotine pouch access, and bans on flavored products.

Another focus for TPA in 2025 went beyond legislation and focused on regulatory reform. TPA submitted oral and written comments to the Food and Drug Administration Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) in October 2025 concerning the renewal of an exposure modification order for five IQOS products.

As a leading organization in THR advocacy, TPA hosted GOOD COP 2025, the biannual conference designed to provide an alternative perspective to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The 2025 event featured more than 37 experts from 23 countries, spanned five days, and included policy discussions on a variety of issues affecting consumers and public health.

In October, TPA released the policy brief, “FCTC: The Wrong Lessons Learned,” by Roger Bate, fellow at the International Center for Law and Economics. The brief argues that the WHO FCTC has strayed from its original promise of evidence-based, transparent policy and now too often excludes scientific dissent and blocks consumer-driven innovation that helps adult smokers quit.

TPA had some major wins in 2025, including 9 legislative wins stopping states from implementing harmful THR legislation, long-overdue acknowledgement by the FDA on the benefits of a THR-centric strategy, and an increasingly large number of WHO member-states speaking out against prohibition. We are prepared to build on these positive developments and engage at the state, federal, and international level in 2026. TPA’s priorities include opposing excise taxes and flavor bans and advocating for a more efficient FDA premarket approval process for tobacco harm reduction products. We anticipate participating in future FDA advisory committee meetings on harm reduction products, including one on nicotine pouch products scheduled for January. Stay tuned as TPA continues to protect taxpayers and consumers against misguided bans and regulations.