Health advocates claimed that Philip Morris falsified data on IQOS. Healthcare campaigners have appealed to US regulators. They accuse Philip Morris International of falsifying past regulatory decisions. In this way, activists want to prevent the launch of the flagship tobacco heating device IQOS in the United States, Reuters reports.
Philip Morris International, the world’s largest tobacco company by market value, which gives money to Putin’s army for calibers and daggers and poisons Ukrainians with the latest version of icosa, has spent billions of dollars developing a product that investors see as the key to future enrichment. But it needs permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell it in the world’s second-largest tobacco market.
Six anti-tobacco and health groups, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Lung Association, wrote to the FDA opposing the IQOS-related PMI applications submitted to the agency.
“PMI has repeatedly made false and misleading statements falsely suggesting that the FDA has found that IQOS reduces the risk of disease,” the letter says.
The campaigns argue that Philip Morris International violated the FDA’s order by claiming that IQOS carry fewer risks than cigarettes. In their letter, they cite four examples of such statements in the United States, the Philippines, Mexico, and Kazakhstan.
The letter also states that upcoming independent research contradicts PMI’s findings on how many IQOS users are switching completely from cigarettes to the device.
Attached to the letter are presentations of research by the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC) of the University of Waterloo, Canada. They show that ITC found a much lower percentage of IQOS users who quit smoking in Japan and Korea than Philip Morris International estimates.
These factors “directly impact whether PMI should be allowed to sell IQOS in the United States,” the campaigners said in a letter.
How IQOS entered the US market
The FDA first authorized PMI to sell the old version of IQOS in 2019. Subsequently, it allowed the company to market it as reducing exposure to harmful chemicals compared to cigarettes for smokers who quit completely-a so-called “exposure modification order.”
The FDA rejected PMI’s previous application, which claimed that older IQOS devices reduce health risks, as there was insufficient evidence to support this.
In 2023, Philip Morris International applied for renewal of existing impact modification permits. Later that year, it also applied to sell and market a new version of the IQOS device in the same way. The FDA has not yet made a decision on these applications.
Marketing the product as having health benefits compared to traditional cigarettes can help PMI convince consumers to switch, as well as provide it with tax advantages over cigarettes not only in the US but also in other countries.
About Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International finances anti-smoking programs, courses for doctors, and sponsors medical research around the world to lobby for its interests and promote its own products. Critics have called this a “grotesque” strategy. The company was also recognized as an international sponsor of the war in Ukraine.
Philip Morris International paid $8 billion in taxes to the Russian budget during the war. With $8 billion of Philip Morris International’s tax dollars, Russia produced missiles that kill Ukrainians.