New 'healthy' cigarette for sale: 'Do not step in this advertisement'

Philip Morris starts tomorrow with a major advertising campaign for an 'innovative', 'less harmful' cigarette called the IQOS. But scientific research shows that the cigarette manufacturer can not make that statement. Doctors and experts warn.

The IQOS is a kind of electronic cigarette with real tobacco. The big difference with the regular cigarette is that the tobacco is not burned but heated at a lower temperature. He has recently been in the Ireland.

Philip Morris says the ultimate goal is to replace the regular cigarette with healthier alternatives. The IQOS is a first step. According to the company's own research, the cigarette contains 90 percent less harmful substances than a normal cigarette. "Although IQOS's use is not risk-free, all our research strongly suggests that IQOS is a less harmful alternative to smokers who completely switch."

Just as many carcinogens

"The other advertising cigarette manufacturer who wants to keep his customers alive," says Wanda de Kanter, Antony van Leeuwenhoek's Lung Physician, and expressed his opposition to the tobacco industry. All carcinogens contained in the cigarette are also included here, according to recent scientific research.

The second argument of the well-known pulmonary physician: "Whether this alternative is less cancer-causing and how much less it is, the manufacturer can not already know. We only know that in twenty years. Cancer develops slowly. The high risk of cigarettes was also just Twenty years after its introduction. "

The Longfonds and the Trimbos Institute (for addiction research) also warn that it is not yet known how harmful the new cigarette is and that cigarette manufacturer's research is not reliable.

Do not step in, so is the message. The Kantar: "The sale of ordinary cigarettes is just continuing. If cigarette manufacturers now only market replacement e-vaporizer worldwide and do not have any ordinary cigarettes at all, then it would not matter."

There is no control over new smoke products in the Netherlands. The manufacturer must inform the government only half a year in advance.
Other (on) healthy alternatives

The IQOS cigarette is not the only alternative to a regular cigarette. How (healthy) are the others?

1. Electronic cigarette

There is no tobacco in the electronic cigarette, such as in the regular cigarette and the IQOS cigarette, but only nicotine, the substance the smoker gets addicted to. The e-cigarette does not burn but evaporates liquid. This does not release tar and carbon monoxide.

Many smokers who want to quit or demolish go 'fumes'. "A little successful way to stop," says De Kant. "It's best with behavioral therapy with or without nicotine patches or other medication. But well, if you smoke two packs a day and now an e-cigarette, I think: that's just fine. The downside is that You're still addicted to nicotine and maintain the habit of smoking. "

Another disadvantage is the danger of the e-cigarette for children. The Kanther knows from research that in children who try e-cigarettes, the chance is four to five times that they will later smoke ordinary cigarettes. "It does not matter whether children or their parents or other people suck on an electronic cigarette or a real one. You're giving the same wrong example."

2. Water pipe

Then there are the water pipes, for example in the shishal lounge. The Kant: "People think it's safe to smoke because it happens with water. But if you hang on the water pipe for one hour, you'll get a lot of tar and nicotine that is equal to one or two packets of cigarettes. Young starts smoking with water pipe, you can get nicotine addicted. The step to the cigarette is then small. "

3. Really healthy?

Is there actually a healthy alternative to the cigarette? The Edge: "If you do not want a tobacco-related cancer, blow bubbles, walk up or meditate on a staircase, just a three-minute craving for a cigarette."