Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2018 Nov;27(Suppl 1):s9-s12.
doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054413. Epub 2018 Aug 21.

PMI's own in vivo clinical data on biomarkers of potential harm in Americans show that IQOS is not detectably different from conventional cigarettes

Stanton A Glantz  1   2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

PMI's own in vivo clinical data on biomarkers of potential harm in Americans show that IQOS is not detectably different from conventional cigarettes

Stanton A Glantz. Tob Control. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Introduction: New 'heated tobacco products' are being marketed in several countries with claims that they expose users to lower levels of toxins than conventional cigarettes which could be read as being less likely to cause health problems than conventional cigarettes. In the USA, Philip Morris International (PMI) has submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to market its heated tobacco product, IQOS, with reduced exposure and reduced risk claims.

Methods: Analysis of detailed results on 24 biomarkers of potential harm in PMI studies of humans using IQOS compared with humans using conventional cigarettes.

Results: Among American adults, there is no statistically detectable difference between IQOS and conventional cigarette users for 23 of the 24 biomarkers of potential harm in PMI's studies. In Japan, there were no significant differences between people using IQOS and conventional cigarettes in 10 of 13 biomarkers of potential harm. It is likely that some of the significant differences are false positives.

Conclusion: Despite delivering lower levels of some toxins than conventional cigarettes, PMI's own data fail to show consistently lower risks of harm in humans using its heated tobacco product, IQOS, than conventional cigarettes.

Keywords: non-cigarette tobacco products; public policy; smoking-caused disease; tobacco industry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Glantz S, Slade J, Bero L, et al. . Chapter 4: The Search for a Safe Cigarette: The Cigarette Papers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996.
    1. Dutra LM, Grana R, Glantz SA. Philip Morris research on precursors to the modern e-cigarette since 1990. Tob Control 2017;26:e97–e105. 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053406 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Apollonio D, Glantz SA. Tobacco industry research on nicotine replacement therapy: "if anyone is going to take away our business it should be US". Am J Public Health 2017;107:1636–42. 10.2105/AJPH.2017.303935 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Philip Morris International. Our tobacco heating system IQOS: Tobacco meets technology. 2017. https://www.pmi.com/smoke-free-products/iqos-our-tobacco-heating-system (accessed 6 Jan 2018).
    1. Philip Morris S.A. Philip morris products S.A. Modified risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) applications. 2016. https://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/MarketingandAdvertising/ucm... (accessed 6 Jan 2018).

Publication types