Philip Morris’s heat-not-burn Iqos product available in PHL in Q2
ZURICH, Switzerland—An alternative to cigarettes, the heat-not-burn tobacco product Iqos, will soon be available in the Philippines. Its manufacturer Philippine Morris International (PMI), through Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), announced a second-quarter launch in a media briefing here.
PMFTC is making representations with the Bureaus of Internal Revenue, and Customs for the marketing of Iqos in the country, Dave M. Gomez, communications director of PMFTC, told Filipino journalists during a recent briefing at the company’s research and development facilities in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
PMI first launched Iqos in Nagoya, Japan, and in Milan, Italy, in 2014. It is now available in 48 markets worldwide as of 2019, a company report said.
Gomez said there are an estimated 10,000 Iqos users in the Philippines who purchase their devices and the Heets—the tobacco sticks heated by the device—from countries where Iqos was already launched, such as Japan, Malaysia, Korea and Europe.
“[Filipino] Iqos users buy their supply when they visit other countries or ask friends to buy them when they travel to markets where Iqos is available,” Gomez told the BusinessMirror.
He added that the company’s survey showed there are approximately 225,000 users of smoke-free products in the country, including Iqos and electronic cigarettes (ecigarettes). E-cigarettes use nicotinelaced liquid. PMI data cite estimates of 12.4 million Iqos users globally— of whom 71 percent, or 8.8 million, have stopped smoking and switched completely to Iqos.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of Iqos in US in 1917.
Although many say that Iqos is quite more expensive than cigarettes, Gomez said PMFTC is still working on the pricing scheme to make it more affordable when it is launched in the Philippines.
The Philippines is deemed a heavy cigarette-smoking country, with BIR 2019 cigarette production figures of approximately 70.5 billion sticks. Of these, approximately 49.7 billion sticks were produced by PMFTC, or an industry share of 70 percent.
PMFTC’s cigarette products in the Philippines are: Marlboro, Fortune, Philip Morris, Jackpot, More, Hope, Champion, Mark and Boss.
Scientific researches
PMI explained that scientific researches show the main cause of the harm from smoking cigarettes comes from the toxic chemicals emitted by smoke generated by burning tobacco—not from nicotine.
However, it is recognized that nicotine is addictive.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom said in a 2013 report on harm reduction that “nicotine is not the primary cause of smoking-related diseases. It is primarily the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke—not the nicotine—that cause illness and death.”
Mario Barreto, PMI senior manager for global communications, explained tobaccos emit toxins when they burn at more than 800 degrees Celsius. Iqos is heated at a lower temperature of only 300 degrees C, making it emit lesser toxins.
The findings on the ill effects of cigarette smoking to people’s health made the PMI resort to its $6-billion research and development on lessharmful smoke-free products for more than a decade.
Although PMI officials and scientists admitted that based on the company’s research Iqos still emits toxins, they explained that it is at a very low level of 90 percent to 95 percent less than that of cigarettes. E-cigarettes have 95 percent less toxins than cigarettes.
Barretto said at the same briefing that Iqos provides an alternative to smokers who could not yet quit.
He said people are given a choice. “For everyone concerned [about] their health, the best choice is always to give up any nicotine products. That is very clear. But even though it is clear that nicotine is addictive, that tobacco is not risk free, people are still smoking,” he added.
‘Unsmoke’
HE cited PMI’s message: “If you don’t smoke, don’t start; if you smoke, quit; if you don’t quit, change [to a noncigarette product].” Barretto said it is PMI’s “ambition” to do away with cigarettes. “We want to transform our business into a more sustainable one.”
He said PMI is “transitioning” from being a cigarette company to stop selling its original product but could not say when. “But we would like to, in a day not too distant from now, to finish [manufacturing] cigarettes.”
He said PMI wants the world to “unsmoke,” adding, “We realize that the best is [smoking] prevention and cessation.”
He said PMI created a grassroots movement for people to “unsmoke” but they do not want to own it, being a “general principle” to “unsmoke the streets.”
“Even if you’re not a smoker or if you know of someone who smokes, talk to the smoker about this. If you know of an NGO [nongovernment organization] working in this area, have the NGO own this. We don’t want to be the owners of this.”
The word unsmoke was coined by PMI Senior Vice President Marian Salzman and is now part of the lexicon, being listed in the Urban Dictionary. com in April 8, 2029, and recognized PMI as its owner.
Barretto added: “PMI wants the world to unsmoke at a faster pace.”