On September 15, 2003, ACSH hosted a special symposium in New York to discuss smokeless tobacco as a harm reduction intervention for cigarette smokers. Unlike ACSH's previous educational harm reduction symposium in June 2002, which was open to the media and the public, the purpose of this forum was to initiate a scientific discussion between leading proponents and opponents of smokeless tobacco use as a harm reduction alternative. The goal was to establish a scientific discourse between the two groups and, perhaps, bridge some of the differences on this controversial public health alternative.

While no position statement or consensus was formulated at this meeting, the forum was successful in getting each side to recognize the passion they share in decreasing the devastating toll of cigarette smoking on health. The task at hand is to determine how the two groups can reach an accord that will best serve the public interest.