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A new type of nicotine delivery system set for introduction in the United States in the coming months will provoke a debate on how best to regulate and tax a class of innovative products that experts say can substantially reduce the public health costs imposed by traditional cigarettes.
The new product, IQOS, delivers nicotine by heating tobacco, rather than burning it — a process that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged significantly reduces the production of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals.
“Cigarettes by definition are lit on fire, and when you do that, you generate basically a chemical factory,” said Tommaso di Giovanni, vice president of international communications at Philip Morris International (PMI), the company behind IQOS. “What comes out of products like IQOS is not smoke, but it’s an aerosol.”
The FDA acknowledged the potential health benefits of heated tobacco products like IQOS compared to continued smoking. After reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of research provided by PMI over a period of three years, the FDA granted IQOS status as a “modified risk tobacco product,” or an MRTP, allowing the company to claim publicly that it significantly reduces exposure to harmful chemicals compared to cigarette smoke.
This story is sponsored by Philip Morris International
For the estimated 30 million smokers in the United States, completely switching to a product that delivers a similar taste and ritual — while benefiting the health of the population as a whole — should pay public health dividends.
“IQOS has the potential to contribute to moving millions of smokers in the US away from cigarettes. It’s already happening to a certain extent with e-cigarettes, it’s already happening with nicotine pouches,” Di Giovanni said.
One of the most significant challenges in promoting IQOS is convincing smokers to make the switch. Di Giovanni acknowledged that smokers are often resistant to change, especially if the alternative doesn’t replicate the taste and sensation of traditional cigarettes.
“We tried to mimic as much as possible the experience a smoker would have with cigarettes, because we knew that otherwise smokers wouldn’t switch,” he said. “one of the biggest challenges for us was removing combustion while giving smokers something that’s close to cigarettes in terms of taste, sensation and ritual.”
Because heated tobacco products may carry lower health risks than traditional cigarettes, the company says they should be taxed at different rates, to send a signal to adult consumers that better alternatives to smoking exist. Di Giovanni said 24 of the 28 European Union nations where IQOS has already been introduced tax it at a lower rate than traditional cigarettes.
The success of IQOS and similar smoke-free products in the United States will depend largely on how regulators choose to approach these new technologies. Di Giovanni urged policymakers to base their decisions on scientific evidence and to differentiate between products based on their relative risks.
“A product that carries more risk should have more limited abilities to communicate,” Di Giovanni said. “Not every product carries the same level of risk, so the regulation should be risk-proportionate.”
As IQOS prepares to enter the U.S. market, it stands at the forefront of a larger shift in tobacco regulation and public health strategy. The goal is not to encourage new nicotine use but to offer existing smokers an option that, while not risk-free, significantly reduces their exposure to harmful chemicals.
Lawmakers in Virginia considered legislation this year to change tax rates on products like IQOS, and similar tax proposals are likely to emerge in other states as non-combustible products are introduced to the market.