Panel asks FDA to reject smokeless tobacco stick

WASHINGTON — A federal advisory committee recommended Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration reject a bid by Philip Morris International to market a smokeless tobacco stick as safer than cigarettes.

The product, called iQOS, is an electronic penlike device that heats tobacco sticks but does not burn them. It releases nicotine vapor, which the company says is less hazardous than smoke. It is already sold in 30 countries.

Philip Morris also is moving to get approval to simply sell the device without making such claims.

In two days of discussions, panel members repeatedly asked about the quality of the science behind the company’s claims. make products including Teflon.

A Jan. 11 letter from the Environmental Protection Agency, seen by Bloomberg News, asks for the tests to begin no later than March 31 because the agency is concerned that water may be contaminated with a chemical known as GenX. The tests will be conducted on both sides of the Ohio River near Chemours’s Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant.

The letter cites similar issues at the company’s plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Chemours is supplying bottled water to some residents.

Chemours, spun off from DuPont Co. in 2015, did not respond to a request for comment.

Before GenX, a chemical known as PFOA was used and then phased out. The class of chemicals, more broadly known as PFCs, have also prompted lawsuits against 3M Co.