Philip Morris’ call for a cigarette ban in the UK relates to e-cigarettes

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An IQOS device from Philip Morris International that heats tobacco sticks without burning them, as seen on the research and development campus in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 2018. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP (Getty Images)

The chief executive of one of the world’s biggest tobacco brands, Philip Morris International (PMI), now says it will stop selling cigarettes in the UK within a decade and regulators should ban them entirely – although there is a big, smelly warning.

According to Business Insider, PMI CEO Jacek Olczak told the Mail on Sunday that the company plans to “quit smoking,” adding that “maximum ten years from now, you can completely solve the smoking problem.” Olczak, as well as PMI chief André Calantzopoulos, told the Telegraph that PMI now supports a total ban as part of the UK government’s plan to eliminate tobacco smoking by 2030.

“We can see the world without cigarettes,” Olchak told The Telegraph. “And in fact, the earlier this happens, the better for everyone.” Calantzopoulos compared the problem to switching to alternative energy and electric cars, saying banning cigarettes “could be one solution – but it’s not enough”.

Calantzopoulos claimed to the Telegraph that many smokers believe alternatives to cigarettes are less dangerous than smoking and that the UK government should educate smokers to “choose smoke-free alternatives” (which it already does, for the record). The caveat, of course, is that after manufacturing countless billions of cowboy killers, PMI is in a very good position to cash in on this “smoke-free” market with its horrible product.

Separate from Virginia-based tobacco company Philip Morris USA, PMI is a subsidiary of Altria, which manufactures Marlboro cigarettes and other popular brands such as Virginia Slims in the United States. The PMI split from its US counterpart in 2008 in response to investor pressure and as a way to protect itself from lawsuits from American smokers. Since then, it has centered around the claim that the future of tobacco is in cigarette alternatives, such as the IQOS product, which heats a tampon of tobacco to release fumes without actually burning it.

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PMI has marketed the IQOS device as if it were a safer alternative to smoking or vaping (albeit in a limited way only in the United States, thanks to Food and Drug Administration regulations). While IQOS may emit fewer toxic chemicals than cigarettes, The Atlantic reported in 2019 that many health experts are skeptical that “heat and don’t burn” products are actually safer than conventional smoking. This is particularly the case given the tobacco giant’s decades-old efforts to suppress the science linking smoking to cancer and other lung diseases. In 2017, Reuters reported irregularities in PMI-backed research that the company cited while lobbying health authorities to approve IQOS. The report also detailed how Philip Morris International (PMI) has been pushing the device primarily in countries already experiencing long-term declines in cigarette smoking.

A 2018 review in Tobacco Control found that 20 out of 31 studies on devices that don’t burn heat were, at that point, funded by tobacco companies including PMI. Chris Bostick, deputy director of public policy at Action on Smoking and Health, told The Atlantic that these studies can be dismissed outright and that PMI’s claims that it is striving for a smoke-free future are a “ridiculous public relations ploy.” (At the time, in 2019, Philip Morris International wasn’t advocating for a cigarette ban.)

Healthline reported in April 2021 that two recent studies published in Thorax found evidence that tobacco products that don’t burn with heat may be nearly as dangerous as cigarettes, causing endothelial dysfunction and endothelial damage, and that it claims the product can help. Smoking cessation may be overrated, as device users may be less likely to quit smoking than traditional smokers. In another 2021 study published in the Harm Reduction Journal, researchers found that interviews with 30 current and former IQOS users who had smoked or quit in the past two years showed that they generally believed the device was “less harmful than smoking but not risk-free.” , although there is a great deal of uncertainty.

According to the Guardian, anti-tobacco activists and scientists have urged the public not to buy into PMI’s marketing as it tries to make its way into the lung health-related arms of the pharmaceutical industry, such as making $1.38 billion+ (£1 billion). An offer to asthma inhaler maker Vectura and $820 million to buy Fertin Pharma, which makes nicotine gum. In 2019, PMI went so far as to launch a life insurance company called Reviti, which would offer discounts to smokers who have switched to e-cigarettes like IQOS.

Cancer Research Executive Director Ian Walker told the Telegraph not to trust PMI as it positions itself “as part of the solution to a smoke-free world, while continuing to sell and promote deadly cigarettes globally”.

Walker added: “The industry has a long history of subverting tobacco control policies for its own financial gain, both in the UK and globally, so protecting public health from its own interests is critical.”

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