Regulators are implementing new programs that require manufacturers of products containing certain chemicals of concern to identify, evaluate, and adopt viable, safer alternatives. Such programs raise the difficult question for policymakers and regulated businesses of which alternatives are “viable” and “safer.” To address that question, these programs use “alternatives analysis,” an emerging methodology that integrates issues of human health and environmental effects with technical feasibility and economic impact.

The study, published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, examines the relationship between state laws regulating flu vaccines for health care workers and the state-level immunization rates among health care workers between 2001-2011. Laws mandating flu vaccines for health care workers increase their vaccination rates, according to a new study.

In this Perspective for the New England Journal of Medicine the authors compare US and UK approaches to harm reduction, particularly as it applies to e-cigarette policy.