Argentina is at a crossroads in its approach to tobacco control. Despite the country’s strong public health traditions and high burden of smoking-related disease, harm reduction strategies that could save lives remain absent from official policy. While other nations in Latin America and beyond are cautiously exploring safer nicotine alternatives, Argentina continues to rely on abstinence-only approaches, leaving millions of adult smokers with limited options.
The Smoking Burden in Argentina
An estimated 20% of Argentina’s adult population smokes cigarettes, contributing to more than 40,000 deaths each year linked to tobacco-related illnesses. Public health authorities have long promoted cessation programs and awareness campaigns, but quit rates remain low, reflecting a global reality: most smokers who want to quit struggle to do so with existing tools.
Without access to safer alternatives such as nicotine pouches, vaping products, or heated tobacco, many Argentinians are effectively left with an all-or-nothing choice, quit entirely or continue smoking.
Missed Opportunities in Harm Reduction
Globally, evidence has shown that offering smoke-free alternatives alongside traditional cessation methods accelerates declines in smoking. Sweden’s experience with snus and nicotine pouches, for example, has led to record-low smoking rates and “smoke-free” status under WHO definitions. By contrast, Argentina’s regulatory framework has resisted introducing harm reduction into its tobacco control strategy, often framing nicotine itself as the problem rather than focusing on the deadly effects of combustion.
This prohibitionist stance has several consequences:
- Adult smokers lack safer options: Those unable to quit are denied access to reduced-risk products that could drastically lower their exposure to toxicants.
- Public confusion persists: Equating all nicotine products with cigarettes reinforces misconceptions, discouraging smokers from switching.
- Illicit markets thrive: In the absence of regulation, unregulated products often find their way to consumers, with risks of poor quality and youth access.
Why Argentina Needs a Pragmatic Approach
Argentina has one of the region’s highest smoking burdens, making it an ideal candidate for a harm reduction strategy that complements existing tobacco control efforts. Introducing regulated alternatives would:
- Provide adult smokers with accessible, lower-risk pathways away from cigarettes.
- Align Argentina with emerging global evidence on proportional, science-based regulation.
- Reduce smoking-related disease and mortality without undermining youth protection goals.
A Call for Change
As Argentina looks to strengthen its public health policies, it must ask whether prohibition is delivering results or simply delaying progress. Harm reduction is not about encouraging nicotine use but about recognizing reality: millions of smokers will not quit through abstinence alone.
By integrating safer nicotine products into its strategy, Argentina could take a decisive step toward reducing preventable deaths, empowering adult consumers, and catching up with international best practices.
At GINN, we urge policymakers, academics, and health advocates in Argentina to open the door to evidence-based harm reduction. The goal is simple yet profound: fewer smokers, fewer deaths.
