The world’s leading tobacco company Philip Morris is promoting its IQOS heated tobacco device, sold as a “modified risk tobacco product”.
- Heated tobacco devices differ from electronic cigarettes that do not contain tobacco
- One of the major tobacco companies relies on the authorization granted by the American FDA to promote its product
- Tobacconists and anti-tobacco associations protest against his communication campaign
In a recent press releasethe world’s leading tobacco company Philip Morris welcomes the recent clearance granted to it in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its IQOS heated tobacco device as a “modified risk tobacco product”.
Heated tobacco products are made up of a battery-operated device, which heats real tobacco contained in a capsule, without burning it. They differ from electronic cigarettes, which do not contain tobacco, but a heated liquid.
Heated tobacco is classified as a “tobacco product”
This offensive communication campaign, which prides itself on “protect and promote public health”, is surprising. Considering first that heated tobacco is classified as “a tobacco product”it is in principle illegal in France. “Propaganda or advertising, direct or indirect, in favor of tobacco, tobacco products, the ingredients defined in article L. 3512-2, as well as any free distribution or sale of a tobacco product at a price lower than that approved in accordance with article 572 of the general tax code are prohibited”, can we read on Légifrance.
No scientific consensus
Philip Morris then certifies the existence of a “independent international scientific consensus” on the lesser danger of IQOS heated tobacco. In fact, this is not the case: the World Health Organization (WHO) points out that there is no evidence showing that heated tobacco is less harmful than conventional tobacco products. “Whether heated tobacco is more or less toxic than cigarettes, we don’t know yet. But what is certain is that IQOS heated tobacco kills, certifies Bertrand Dautzenberg, tobacco specialist at the Arthur-Vernes Institute. This substance is addictive, and regularly switches non-smokers, often young, to cigarettes and its share of fatal diseases. The IQOS heated tobacco is smoked between three and five minutes, producing a peak of nicotine in the blood: it is this which is responsible for the addiction.
Maintain or create dependency
With this communication campaign focusing on health, “Philip Morris seeks neither more nor less to maintain or create dependence. Moreover, the authorization of the FDA, largely influenced by the tobacco industry lobbies, is in no way a guarantee of the protection of public health”, analyzes Bertrand Dautzenberg.
As for the anti-tobacco associations, which fight against these products, responsible according to them for the death of 30,000 French people per year and more than a million people in the world, they are also worried that IQOS be presented by Philip Morris as “the opportunity of the century for public health”. “By the fundamental antagonism of its interests to those of public health, Philip Morris can in no way be considered a partner in the development of a smoke-free world, nor, a fortioriwithout tobacco”, emphasize the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) and the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT). The “maneuver of this society, which is accustomed to this type of imposture, must remain a dead letter”, conclude the two anti-tobacco associations.
For its part, the tobacco company defends itself: “Philip Morris France is not organizing a communication campaign around the decision of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the Iqos device (valid on American territory only). In addition, nothing in the transmitted or accessible press release can be considered as the promotion of the product or tobacco in general.
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