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An electronic device for tobacco could now hit the US market after being cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, the agency said on Tuesday.
The agency said it did not consider the scheme – Philip Morris International's IQOS "tobacco heating system" – to be safe. And his decision to authorize sales does not amount to FDA approval.
IQOS is already sold internationally and nearly 6 million smokers have already switched to IQOS in the four years since its launch, more than half of them in Japan. The new devices are designed to help accelerate the world's transformation into a smoke-free future. "
The device is not an electronic cigarette or a vape like those that have grown in popularity among middle and high school students. It is rather a non-combustible device that heats, without burning, "sticks filled with tobacco wrapped in paper to generate an aerosol containing nicotine," said the FDA.
The agency said the decision had been taken as a result of "rigorous scientific scrutiny", after which the product could have merit in public health, partly because the device contained "less of toxic chemicals that cigarette smoke, and many identified toxins are present in lower concentrations. " levels only in cigarette smoke. "
"Ensuring that new tobacco products are the subject of a strong pre-market assessment by the FDA is an essential part of our mission: to protect the public, especially young people, and to reduce the number of tobacco-related illnesses and deaths, "Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. said Tuesday in a statement.
However, the decision raised eyebrows among some advocates of public health.
Harold Wimmer, President and CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned" about the potential effects of the product on health.
"The Lung Association urges the FDA to closely monitor how this product is actually used – and by whom," Wimmer said. "The FDA must take steps to protect young people from starting a tobacco addiction with this product."
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