Black cloud hangs over substitutes for cigarettes
Tobacco firms keen to grab market share are being stymied by regulators
Big Tobacco is spending billions of dollars to develop products that could move the industry beyond cigarettes. The problem is that health experts and regulators are not buying it. The latest setback came last Thursday, when a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel said Philip Morris International failed to show that its iQOS device, which heats tobacco to a lower temperature than a lit cigarette, cuts the risk of tobacco-related ailments. That decision could prevent the company from marketing iQOS as a healthier alternative to cigarettes, even if it is approved for sale in the US. Even with smoking in decline and FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb proposing restrictions on nicotine levels, concern about the health effects of vaping and Big Tobacco’s toxic reputation threatens the transition to smoking alternatives such as e-cigarettes and iQOS, according to Tim Phillips, MD of researcher ECigIntelligence. "The black cloud of tobacco hangs over this whole sector. The perc...
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