The "Clearing the Smoke" study, conducted by the University of North Carolina for the Institute of Medicine, analyzed products designed to help people stop smoking or reduce tobacco usage. They include nicotine-replacement gum, patches, inhalers, nasal spray, cigarette-like products that produce less smoke, and modified tobacco with fewer toxic chemicals.

"We believe that it may be possible to reduce harm from tobacco use with new products, but we frankly do not know the health effects of the various products on the market that claim to do this," said Stuart Bondurant, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chairman of the panel that prepared the report.

The report stated that while such products have the potential to reduce a smoker's exposure to tobacco, the end results depend on the actions of the individual.

For several years, tobacco specialists have been debating the value of cutting back on smoking versus quitting altogether. A recent Mayo Clinic study found that just reducing smoking instead of quitting doesn't help. The report explained that the levels of toxins in heavy smokers' bodies do not decrease when they cut smoking in half.

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