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smoking without fire? Researchers question heated tobacco products – Health and Lifestyle News – Report by AFR

Heated tobacco products have become increasingly popular in recent years as a “smoke-free” alternative to cigarettes, but a peer-reviewed report has suggested their emissions could be considered smoke – a claim strongly denied by the tobacco industry.

Heated tobacco products, or HTPs, are often confused with e-cigarettes, which heat liquids that may contain nicotine but do not contain tobacco leaf.

HTPs instead use high heat to break down tobacco through a process called pyrolysis, which doesn’t ignite or burn it, thereby avoiding the creation of smoke.

The most popular and widely used HTP, Philip Morris International’s IQOS, is an electronic device that heats a tobacco-filled, paper-wrapped, cigarette-like stick to a temperature of up to 350 degrees Celsius (662 degrees Fahrenheit).

Last month, a review of available research by pyrolysis experts at Britain’s Nottingham University found “chemical evidence that IQOS emissions fit the definition of both an aerosol and a smoke”.

The paper, published in the American Chemical Society’s Omega Journal, was funded by the anti-tobacco initiative STOP.

Its lead author, Clement Uguna, said that IQOS emissions contain chemical compounds found “in regular tobacco smoke, bush burning and wood smoke.”

“Therefore, smoke is created simply by heating organic matter and doesn’t necessarily have to be accompanied by fire,” he told AFP.

The paper also noted that previous research on IQOS – most of which was funded by the tobacco industry – had compared a stick to a typical cigarette.

However, IQOS sticks are much smaller and contain about 200 milligrams of tobacco compared to 645 milligrams for a standard cigarette, it said.

Because Philip Morris International (PMI) research did not use a “like-for-like” comparison, the levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) of IQOS were “underestimated,” the review added.

PMI said the level of HPHCs in IQOS emissions – per stick – is “reduced by an average of 90-95 percent compared to cigarette smoke”.

But when comparing the tobacco content of the two products, that level dropped to 68 percent, the Nottingham University experts said, calling for more research.

– ‘No smoking’: PMI –

PMI told AFP that the paper “misleadingly uses parts of the scientific review while omitting other important evidence.”

“Numerous international combustion experts and a number of government agencies have reviewed the same body of evidence and have concluded that the IQOS aerosol produced is not smoke,” it said.

Reto Auer, a doctor at Germany’s University of Bern who has previously researched heated tobacco, praised the Omega paper, telling AFP it was “one of those rare reports that dares to tackle the issue of ‘smoke’ so deeply.” .

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, of the Center for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford, author of a highly regarded review of HTP science published earlier this year, said the “important” paper “made some very good points”.

“I think mechanistically there are many reasons to suspect that HTPs could be more harmful than e-cigarettes and possibly less harmful than traditional cigarettes – but we really need more data,” she told AFP.

– ‘Difficult Balance’ –

IQOS is available in more than 60 countries under wildly different regulations, and sticks come in flavors like menthol, cherry and grape, which critics say help attract younger users.

Last month, the European Commission proposed to ban flavored HTP strains after stick sales in the EU surged more than 2,000 percent – from 934 million to almost 20 billion – between 2018 and 2020.

PMI told AFP that the “commission’s proposal was not supported by any evidence.”

“For example, there is no evidence that flavorings pose additional health risks or that they attract a significant proportion of non-nicotine users,” it said.

Hartmann-Boyce said, “There is every reason to be concerned about the extent to which the tobacco industry is manipulating the science and messages surrounding new tobacco products.”

However, she warned that communicating the risks of such products is a “difficult balance” due to the overwhelming harm cigarettes cause. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco kills half of its users.

“When we say something is safer than cigarettes, it doesn’t mean it’s safe — it’s like saying this knife is safer than a loaded gun,” Hartmann-Boyce said.

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