Tobacco firm pushes its ‘smokeless cigarette’

A TOBACCO company today launched a major push into the UK e-cigarette market by creating 1,000 jobs aimed at making smokers switch products.

Philip Morris, behind the Marlboro brand, is employing the workers initially in London to get smokers to switch to its new device, IQOS, pictured.

The technology is said to have a more realistic cigarette-like “hit” than vaping — and involves a pen-like gadget heating up a tobacco stick rather than burning it. It releases a vapour containing nicotine but with 90 to 95 per cent less of the toxins of cigarettes, according to Philip Morris’s research. The move was met with scepticismfrom anti-smoking campaigners. They said the company was simply trying to boost tobacco sales as the traditional UK cigarette market declines due to stricter regulation, health warnings and the rise in popularity of vaping.

Health charity Ash said it was better for smokers to stop using tobacco com- pletely and stop being addicted to nicotine. Philip Morris says it wants people unable to kick smoking completely to move from cigarettes to the new product, launched in the UK last year.

Peter Nixon, managing director of Philip Morris UK & Ireland, said: “This exciting development demonstrates our commitment to move towards a smoke-free future.”

Public Health England has yet to verify Philip Morris’s health claims about IQOS but is likely to include a view on the product in a report on e-cigarettes later his year.

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