Cigarettes relegated to museum pieces? Why not?
PMI’s CEO Jacek Olczak
Only if countries around the world will ban cigarette smoking, approve and regulate smoke-free products which are believed to be less harmful, and stop consumers with the smoking habit from purchasing illegally-manufactured cigarettes and vape products that are harmful and contain substances such as arsenic and even rats’ hair.
At the Technovation Forum held recently at The Cube, Neuchatel, Switzerland, Philip Morris International (PMI), the company that disrupted its business to replace cigarettes with science-based smoke-free products (SFPs), remained firm in its bold ambition of building PMI’s future on SFPs.
At The Cube in Neuchatel, Switzerland for the Technovation forum (from left) Philippine Daily Inquirer's Tina Arceo-Dumlao, Philippine Star's Marichu Villanueva, the author, and officials of PMI's local affiliate PMFTC Inc. Dave Gomez and Seano Obmerga
Jacek Olczak, PMI’s chief executive officer, said the plan is to help the remaining 1.1 billion cigarette smokers in the world turn to better alternatives.
Olczak hailed major feats in PMI’s 30 years of innovation, churned out of The Cube, the company’s research and development hub, and 10 years of progress which saw IQOS, PMI’s heated tobacco product, replacing Marlboro cigarettes as its leading brand in net revenue during the 4th Quarter of 2023. This marked a historic stride towards becoming a company that no longer sells cigarettes and with smoke-free business accounting for 38 percent of PMI’s total net revenues in Q2 2024.
He mentioned “model countries” such as Japan and Sweden which adapted to innovation and reversed the trend of cigarette smoking through the use of less harmful alternatives. Ten years after the launch of IQOS and the creation of the heat not burn category in Japan, the smoke-free products surpassed the cigarette combustible product.
IQOS, PMI’s heated tobacco product, has replaced Marlboro cigarettes as its leading brand in net revenue during the 4th Quarter of 2023.
Sweden, the “odd ball” in Europe, remains a phenomenon when it switched to snus and nicotine pouches, brought down cigarette smoking to 5.6 percent, and saw the cancer rate among male smokers, dive to its lowest level in the world.
Olczak, who joined PMI in 1993, admitted that “it is highly frustrating that we're living in society which continuously deny innovations, rather than focusing on the positive” results that these can yield.
“We're having a legislation which is banning new products (SFPs), while at the same time, we're allowing the old product (cigarettes). The whole logic will tell you, if you want to have a drastic change from a harm reduction perspective, you should ban the cigarettes and allow the alternatives. But definitely not banning alternatives while allowing cigarettes,” he stressed.
With the right regulatory frameworks, dialogue and support from civil society, Olczak said cigarette sales can end within 10 to 15 years in many countries.
An IQOS store in Geneva, Switzerland
PMI has invested $12.5 billion to develop, scientifically substantiate, and commercialize innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. The company employed more than 1500 R&D positions, including scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff, to continuously innovate and enhance its smoke-free portfolio. As of June 30, 2024, PMI's smoke-free products were available for sale in 90 markets.
Tommaso Di Giovanni, PMI’s VP for International Communications and Engagement, said that despite the switch to SFPs, PMI will continue to purchase tobacco from Filipino farmers and help stamp out illicit cigarette and vape sales in the country.
Tommaso Di Giovanni
“We will continue to buy tobacco and we value the quality of Philippine tobacco,” he stressed.
To help address illicit cigarette sales not just in the Philippines but elsewhere in the world, Di Giovanni said PMI is actively collaborating with authorities and exchanging information with them even as PMI conducts its own internal investigation, track and tracing, to secure its value chain, from the manufacturing to the end of distribution “so we know exactly where our product goes.”
“We are experimenting with AI in that field. We have bar codes that will tell you if a product is original or not. One of the areas where we are utilizing AI and facial recognition technologies is to equip our devices with systems that allow you to tell if the user is an adult or a minor,” he said.
Di Giovanni also believes that PMI’s smoke-free initiatives are going in the right direction.
“The Philippines has been a pioneer when it comes to legislation with the law that was enacted, a pioneering framework which is unique in the region. Other countries in the US and Europe have similar laws, but the Philippines was the first in the region. That’s a tribute to the visionary approach of the government. So honestly, I think, the Philippines is very promising as a market when it comes to smoke-free products,” he added.
Patrik Hildingsson, VP for Communication and Public Affairs of Swedish Match, a PMI company, said Sweden is about to become the first smoke-free western country “optimistically, maybe next year” with tobacco smoking down to 5 percent and replaced it with snus and nicotine pouches. Loose tobacco had been in use in Sweden since 1822 with the original pouch introduced in 1973 and 1998. The current and popular multi-flavored and popular nicotine pouches (ZYN) were introduced in 2014.
Patrik Hildingsson
“We are obsessed with coming up with products that do not kill our consumers. We took out the deadly chemicals from them and came up with snus, which transformed Sweden into a smoke-free country, a great story that needs to be told and shared,” Hildingsson said.
PMI’s executives all agree that the best choice for any smoker is to quit tobacco and nicotine altogether.
But many don’t. PMI’s less harmful alternatives, aside from IQOS and E-Cigarettes (VEEV), also include oral smokeless products such as nicotine pouches (ZYN) and snus.
Customized nicotine pouches being prepared at a snus store in Stockholm