Philip Morris International (PMI) received a lot of according to attention A few months ago, it announced that it hopes to ban the use of traditional combustible cigarettes in the UK by 2030, including cigarettes produced by PMI.
But this is an unhealthy fact: this statement has nothing to do with getting people to quit, but with the transfer of smokers to other addictive forms of tobacco, such as PMI’s iQOS product, which heats tobacco instead of burning it. Are we sure that inhaling heated tobacco vapor into the lungs is 100% safe? Isn’t this a rebroadcast of the 1950s, recommending cigarettes as part of a healthy lifestyle? Isn’t this like the recent explosive vape popularity, initially thought that vape is safe, now millions of children and adults use vape, and may also switch to cigarettes?
A few weeks after the company announced that it would stop selling Marlboro cigarettes in the UK within ten years, PMI made $1.4 billion supply Acquired Vectura, a pharmaceutical company that manufactures asthma inhalers and other products for the treatment of lung diseases.Now they have Reach an agreement, Which marks the company’s profitable transition to new revenue from other tobacco products and respiratory drugs used to treat deadly tobacco-related lung diseases (such as emphysema).
Philip Morris claims that it wants to help people avoid the risks of tobacco and nicotine, but its actions tell a different story.In its 2020 Annual Report For shareholders, the tobacco giant Altria Group, Inc. (the parent company of Philip Morris America, Smokeless Tobacco, etc.) emphasized its commitment to IQOS electronic smoking devices:
PM USA focuses on expanding the availability and visibility of IQOS and Marlboro heating rods, communicating FDA-authorized exposure reduction statements to adult smokers, and bringing the improved IQOS 3 device to the market. We believe that PM USA has the right approach to maximize its first-mover advantage, while responsibly positioning the U.S. heated tobacco category to achieve long-term growth and profitability.
Tobacco companies will never stop protecting their interests. This emphasizes the urgent need to provide consumers with accurate and life-saving information-and use evidence-based smoking cessation interventions such as trained coaches, proven behavior change interventions and the FDA to help all tobacco users completely and permanently Quit all forms of tobacco approved medications. Isn’t it safer and more logical to quit smoking than tobacco users switch from one tobacco product to another?
The public health crisis caused by tobacco is huge. Tobacco causes 8 million preventable deaths globally each year, and health care expenditures exceed US$1.4 trillion (yes, T is trillion). According to statistics, up to 68% of adult tobacco users in the United States want to quit smoking, and 55% try to quit smoking every year. CDCUnfortunately, only 7.5% of smokers who initially tried to quit were successful, and many returned to use tobacco within a year after quitting.
Of course, nothing can have a greater and more direct impact than the complete cessation of millions of tobacco users around the world. Scientific and technological progress tells us that tobacco users do not have to stop “cold turkey” to succeed-on the contrary, they can rethink how to quit smoking and understand their psychology of smoking.
Many smoking cessation programs work with employers and healthcare companies to help employees quit smoking for free, and tobacco users do not have to bear any costs. Modern, clinically proven methods to quit smoking include one-on-one counseling, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and personalized apps with community support.
Modern breakthroughs in smoking cessation are helping tobacco users to reduce and quit smoking safely and permanently. Quitting smoking will have a positive ripple effect, helping employers, insurance companies, family and friends, and tobacco users themselves.
Since we can do something now, why wait until 2030 to ban smoking?
Photo: Artist, Getty Images
