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Philip Morris International (PMI) announced a few months ago that it hopes to ban the use of traditional combustible cigarettes in the UK by 2030, including cigarettes produced by PMI, which has attracted widespread media attention.

But this is an unhealthy fact: this statement has nothing to do with getting people to quit, but with the transfer of smokers to other addictive forms of tobacco, such as PMI’s iQOS product, which heats tobacco instead of burning it. Are we sure that inhaling heated tobacco vapor into the lungs is 100% safe? Isn't this a rebroadcast of the 1950s, where people recommended cigarettes as part of a healthy lifestyle? This is not like the recent explosive vape popularity, initially thought that vape is safe, now millions of children and adults use vape, and may also switch to the use of cigarettes?

A few weeks after the company announced that it would stop selling Marlboro cigarettes in the UK within a decade, PMI made a $1.4 billion acquisition offer to acquire Vectura, a pharmaceutical company that produces asthma inhalers and other products for the treatment of lung diseases. Now that they have reached a deal, it marks the company's profitable transition to new revenue from other tobacco products and respiratory drugs used to treat deadly tobacco-related lung diseases such as emphysema.

Philip Morris claims that it wants to help people avoid the risks of tobacco and nicotine, but its actions tell a different story. Tobacco giant Altria Group, Inc. (parent company of Philip Morris America, Smokeless Tobacco, etc.) emphasized its commitment to IQOS electronic smoking devices in its 2020 annual report:

PM USA focuses on expanding the availability and visibility of IQOS and Marlboro heating rods, communicating the FDA-authorized exposure reduction statement to adult smokers, and bringing the improved IQOS 3 device to the market. We believe that PM USA has the right way to maximize its first-mover advantage, while responsibly positioning the U.S. heated tobacco category to achieve long-term growth and profitability.

Tobacco companies will never stop protecting their interests. This emphasizes the urgent need to provide consumers with accurate and life-saving information—and use evidence-based smoking cessation interventions, such as trained coaches, proven behavior change interventions, and the FDA to help all tobacco users quit completely and permanently. Remove all forms of tobacco-approved drug treatments. Isn't it safer and more logical to quit smoking than when tobacco users switch from one tobacco product to another?

The public health crisis caused by tobacco is huge. Tobacco causes 8 million preventable deaths globally each year, and health care expenditures exceed US$1.4 trillion (yes, T is trillion). According to the CDC, as many as 68% of adult tobacco users in the United States want to quit smoking, and 55% of them try to quit smoking every year. Unfortunately, only 7.5% of smokers who initially tried to quit were successful, and many returned to use tobacco within a year of quitting.

Of course, nothing can have a greater and more direct impact than the complete cessation of millions of tobacco users around the world. Technological progress tells us that tobacco users do not have to stop "cold turkey" to succeed-on the contrary, they can rethink how to quit smoking and understand their smoking psychology.

Many smoking cessation programs work with employers and healthcare companies to help employees quit smoking for free, and tobacco users do not have to bear any costs. Modern, clinically proven methods to quit smoking include one-on-one counseling, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and personalized apps with community support.

Modern breakthroughs in smoking cessation are helping tobacco users to reduce and quit smoking safely and permanently. Quitting smoking will have a positive ripple effect, helping employers, insurance companies, family and friends, and tobacco users themselves.

If we can do something now, why wait until 2030 to ban smoking?

Learn how healthcare organizations are working with Microsoft to increase patient engagement, accelerate healthcare innovation, support collaboration, improve clinical and operational insights, and transform healthcare in the cloud.

https://medcitynews.com/?p=556271&preview=true

This webinar will explore how connected care solutions can help you establish a direct relationship with patients and provide them with a personalized experience that directly affects their perception of reporting treatment results.

David S. Utley, MD is an academic surgeon at Stanford University who specializes in the treatment of head and neck cancers related to tobacco use. Utley is currently the founder and CEO of Pivot, a digital health company that provides clinically proven behavioral science-based solutions that enable people to control their personal health. The company's first product is to help people quit all forms of tobacco forever.

Altria Group, Philip Morris, Smoking Cessation Program

Bill Martin, head of neuroscience global therapeutics at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals, shared some promising developments in neuroscience, such as the rise of neuroimmunology and the industry's adoption of digital health tools to support the development of drug treatments in a recent interview.

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