In April, the Food and Drug Administration ruled that Philip Morris International may now start marketing and selling IQOS, the first heat-not-burn gadget to be sold in the United States. Instead of burning tobacco like regular cigarettes do, heat-not-burn tobacco products, also known as heated tobacco products, are electronic devices that heat tobacco leaves to create an inhalable aerosol. Read more about where to Buy iqos sticks in Australia by visiting our website and if you have any questions related to this topic, connect with us.
The FDA has categorized IQOS as a cigarette even though it is an electronic device, so it is subject to all of the same regulations that apply to regular cigarettes. Although Philip Morris asserts that these products are safer than cigarettes, there is still much to learn about the devices and their potential effects.
These are six key points about IQOS.
1. The technology used by IQOS differs from that of e-cigarettes.
Because they employ real tobacco instead of the flavored e-liquid often found in e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices differ from e-cigarettes. The idea behind heat-not-burn is to let consumers enjoy the appearance and feel of a traditional cigarette without actually breathing in combusted tobacco.
2. The gadgets aren’t “FDA approved.”
According to the FDA, even while its ruling “allows the tobacco products to be sold in the United States, it does not mean these products are safe or ‘FDA approved.'”
The business applied to the FDA for two separate regulatory approvals: a Modified Risk Tobacco Product approval, which would allow the company to sell the product as less dangerous than existing tobacco products, and a Pre-sell approval, which would allow the firm to market the product as a new tobacco product. The application for pre-market clearance is subject to the FDA’s ruling. Whether the gadget may be advertised as less dangerous than conventional tobacco products is still up for debate.
3. There is no proof that heated tobacco products are any safer than cigarettes.
Because tobacco creates more than 7,000 compounds that are present in cigarette smoke when it burns, or combusts, tobacco makers argue that heat-not-burn products are less dangerous than cigarettes.
IQOS is less harmful than cigarettes, according to Philip Morris, however many studies in a Tobacco Control issue found that the company’s own data does not entirely support those assertions. According to research, IQOS can expose users to greater quantities of some toxicants than cigarettes, even if it may have lower levels of some of them. Similarly, IQOS may put consumers at greater risk for some illnesses while lowering their risk for others.
According to Philip Morris’ study, decreased exposure claims are often confused with reduced damage claims, and fewer harmful chemicals do not necessarily translate into lower levels of harm experienced by users.
4. Young people may find IQOS appealing.
Researchers from the Truth Initiative® discovered that IQOS may appeal to young adults and children due to its marketing, which presents the product as “sleek, exclusive items akin to iPhones” and “sophisticated, high-tech, and aspirational.”
The present juvenile e-cigarette pandemic, which is being fueled by JUUL, makes the product’s marketing more worrisome. The usage of e-cigarettes has increased, particularly among youth, many of whom have never smoked cigarettes. In fact, JUUL currently holds three-quarters of the U.S. e-cigarette industry, and in just one year, from 2017 to 2018, the use of e-cigarettes increased by 78% among high school students and 48% among middle school students.
These worries are supported by a different study that was published in Tobacco Control: “it is likely that IQOS, marketed in a similar manner, will also appeal to adolescents, just as e-cigarettes, particularly the JUUL-style, promoted with a modern, high-tech image and harm reduction and’smokeless’ messages, appeal to adolescents.”
The FDA is restricting how IQOS products are promoted, particularly through websites and social media, and mandating that advertising be directed towards adults in order to prevent children from having access to the device and being exposed to its promotion and advertising.
5. The Marlboro brand may be strengthened by the menthol-flavored tobacco cartridges.
Philip Morris intends to sell HeatSticks, which are rolls of tobacco that resemble little cigarettes and contain menthol, a taste that has been demonstrated to draw in young users and make quitting cigarettes more difficult. The corporation failed to disclose in its FDA filings how the menthol variation will impact the product’s toxicity, appeal, or other health impacts.
Philip Morris also intends to use the Marlboro brand to promote HeatSticks. Using the Marlboro name to market the new gadget might make all Marlboro products—including cigarettes—more appealing overall. Teenagers’ top cigarette brand preference, according to research, is Marlboro.
6. The industry is working to address the growing amount of regulations with these items.
According to criticism in Tobacco Control, tobacco businesses are trying to evade government control by redefining the sector as a part of the solution rather than the issue by employing harm reduction claims.