According to the Spanish newspaper on April 16, it is widely known that smoking has a significant impact on health. Therefore, the best option is to never smoke, or quit as soon as possible. But more than a billion people still smoke, according to the World Health Organization, and that number is unlikely to decline significantly in the short to medium term.
When it comes to smoking, various methods and strategies have been developed around the world to help people quit, so that most people try to quit the habit. These strategies and policies, mainly through prevention and cessation, aim to prevent people from starting to smoke – especially young people – or to help those who already smoke to quit.
Over the past few years, scientists have developed a technologically enabled smoke-free alternative, showing that it is a better alternative to continuing to smoke. They are non-burning, smoke-free and generally contain the addictive substance nicotine. And evidence shows that it significantly reduces the health risks compared to traditional cigarettes. Because when cigarettes are burned, tobacco burns at high temperatures, and the smoke produced contains more than 6,000 chemicals, about a hundred of which cause or may cause disease. Therefore, eliminating the combustion process is the main goal of developing alternatives to smoking.
Such alternatives include e-cigarettes (often referred to as soot or lampblack), which do not contain tobacco and contain only a nicotine solution, and caloric tobacco devices, which contain tobacco but do not burn, and therefore release significantly less harmful chemicals than burned tobacco.
In addition, Philip Morris International (PMI) has been working to find combustion-free alternatives. They continue to invest in science and technology and work with partners to advance the goal of a smoke-free future for the world. Since 2008, PMI has invested approximately $12.5 billion in the research and development of new technologies, the establishment of the scientific evidence base, product manufacturing, marketing and continued innovation.
Thus, it is possible to help eliminate the public health impact of smoking. But this is not something that can be achieved overnight or alone, but requires the cooperation of other interested parties, such as public authorities and the medical and scientific communities. Only then will changes that have a real impact on public health take place. At the same time, adult smokers must be provided with accurate information based on scientific evidence to enable them to make informed decisions.