Footnotes

• Funding: The 2007 Workshop that led to this manuscript was funded through the strategic initiative Advancing the Science to Reduce Tobacco Abuse and Nicotine Addiction. This initiative is a partnership of government and non-profit organisations under the coordination of the Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative (CTCRI). TE’s effort on this project was supported in part by USPHS grant R01CA103827.

• Competing interests: MZ works for Pinney Associates, which provides consulting services to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare on issues related to treating tobacco dependence. TE has consulted with the National Association of Attorneys General on issues related to potential veduced exposure products (PREPs) and PREP testing; he has received free of charge smokeless tobacco products from RJ Reynolds so he could test them in his laboratory; neither RJ Reynolds nor any other company has ever had any input into any work performed in his laboratory, nor have they had any input into any reporting of results. TE conducts laboratory studies of PREPs that are funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). SL has consulted for Pfizer and J&J Pharmaceuticals, and has given presentations for Pfizer.