Smoke-free air is aerosol-free. Don't be fooled.

Tobacco smoke is a chemical aerosol, composed of gaseous and particulate matter. It is also toxic and carcinogenic, and up to 70 carcinogens have been identified among its thousands of chemicals.

Electronic smoking devices (ESD) such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco products (HTP) also emit similar chemical aerosols. They do not emit simple water vapour.

In fact, ESDs emit many of the same toxic chemicals in tobacco smoke (as well as new ones); albeit studies seem to show a lesser concentration of these toxicants and carcinogens.

ESD proponents, including tobacco companies and their vociferous lap dogs, publicly claim that ESD use is less harmful (even "95% less harmful") than cigarette smoking, that cigarette smokers can "quit" smoking by switching to ESDs, and that smokers have a right to access these "safer" alternatives to cigarettes.

The "95% less harmful" factoid has been debunked for years, but even if it were true, is there such a thing as a "less harmful" poison or cancer? Is it okay to jump from the 5th floor rather than the 100th floor of a building?

The truth is that none of the manufacturers of these ESDs can or will claim that their products are safe or harmless, and so far, none of them have registered their products as smoking cessation devices in any country in the world. Doesn't that make you wonder why?

In its application to the US FDA, Philip Morris even gave an "important warning" - "It has not been demostrated that switching to the IQOS system reduces the risk of developing tobacco-related diseases compared to smoking cigarettes."

Source: FDA does not rule that IQOS reduces tobacco-related harm, yet PMI still claims victory
https://exposetobacco.org/wp-content/uploads/STP054_FDA_IQOS_Brief_v3.pdf

So remember:

Read more about Electronic Smoking Devices and Secondhand Aerosol here.

WHO's statement on heated tobacco products and the US FDA decision regarding IQOS is spot on

The full statement is reproduced below and also available on the WHO website: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-07-2020-who-statement-on-heated-tobacco-products-and-the-us-fda-decision-regarding-iqos

WHO statement on heated tobacco products and the US FDA decision regarding IQOS

27 July 2020

WHO takes this opportunity to remind Member States that are Parties to the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) of their obligations under the Convention. Heated tobacco products are tobacco products, meaning that the WHO FCTC fully applies to these products. (Decision FCTC/COP8(22)) Specifically, Article 13.4(a) obliges Parties, to prohibit "all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship that promote a tobacco product by any means that are false, misleading or deceptive or likely to create an erroneous impression about its characteristics, health effects, hazards or emissions."

WHO reiterates that reducing exposure to harmful chemicals in Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) does not render them harmless, nor does it translate to reduced risk to human health. Indeed, some toxins are present at higher levels in HTP aerosols than in conventional cigarette smoke, and there are some additional toxins present in HTP aerosols that are not present in conventional cigarette smoke. The health implications of exposure to these are unknown.

On 7 July 2020, the US FDA authorized the marketing of a heated tobacco product, the IQOS Tobacco Heating System, under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. This Act requires pre-market authorization of new tobacco products before they can be placed on the US market.

The US FDA statement noted that, “Even with this action, these products are not safe nor “FDA approved“. The exposure modification orders also do not permit the company to make any other modified risk claims or any express or implied statements that convey or could mislead consumers into believing that the products are endorsed or approved by the FDA, or that the FDA deems the products to be safe for use by consumers.”

The US FDA authorization rejected claims that the use of the product is less harmful than another tobacco product or reduces risks to health. The FDA orders also require the company to monitor youth awareness and use of the products to help ensure that the marketing of the MRTPs does not have unintended consequences for youth use. The company must also keep the FDA apprised of efforts to prevent youth access and exposure.

Given that health may be affected by exposure to additional toxins when using HTPs, claims that HTPS reduce exposure to harmful chemicals relative to conventional cigarettes may be misleading.

Moreover, the relevant orders grant a temporary market authorization within the US and are based on factors specific to the US, which is not a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

All tobacco products pose risks to health and WHO urges full implementation of the WHO FCTC. Rigorous implementation will support quit attempts and reduce initiation by non-users of tobacco products, especially the young. WHO recommends cessation of all tobacco use with interventions, such as brief advice from health professionals, national toll-free quit lines, nicotine replacement therapies and cessation interventions delivered via mobile text messaging.

Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) are not safer alternatives to smoking

What utter rubbish!

According to a South China Morning Post article on 28 October 2019, Philip Morris’s president for East Asia and Australia, Paul Riley "pointed out that heated tobacco products were not the same as e-cigarettes, which have been linked to more than one thousand cases of illnesses and 34 deaths in the US. While in e-cigarettes, a cartridge of solution that usually contains nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings and other chemicals are heated up, in heated tobacco products, only a tobacco stick is involved."

Riley is trying to emphasize the distinction between heated tobacco products (HTP) and liquid-based e-cigarettes in order to distance HTPs from the "more than one thousand cases of illnesses and 34 deaths in the US linked to e-cigarettes," but:

1. Aerosols (not vapor) emitted by HTPs also contain nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine, flavorings, and various other toxicants and chemicals.

2. He fails to mention that Altria (Philip Morris in the US) owns 35% of Juul, which is an e-cigarette company that uses nicotine salts in its e-cigarettes and holds over 70% of the US e-cigarette market. 

3. He also fails to mention that Philip Morris also makes its own e-cigarettes branded as IQOS MESH, and aside from Juul, Philip Morris has another nicotine salt e-cigarette called STEEM.

4. Some HTPs heat up a cartridge of liquid, whose aerosol is then passed through a tobacco plug/capsule.


5. There is no evidence that proves that HTPs are less harmful than cigarettes. Even if some toxicants appear to be less than those in cigarettes, there are more of some other toxicants.

6. The US FDA's tobacco advisory panel rejected PMI's claim that IQOS is safer than conventional cigarettes. Even if allowed for sale in the US, the FDA prohibits Philip Morris form making any claims of reduced harm or modified risk.

US Court orders tobacco companies to "tell the truth"

In June 2014, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler of the District of Columbia issued a final order in a long-standing case detailing how the major U.S. tobacco companies must publish court-ordered "corrective statements" to atone for decades of deception of the American public about their deadly products. The order by Judge Kessler includes a list of newspapers and TV networks in which the corrective statements must run, website announcements, and cigarette package “onserts” (information affixed to the packaging or cellophane wrapping).

Judge Kessler in November 2012 finalized the text of corrective messages that are to be made public.  United States v. Philip Morris USA Inc. et al., No. 99-CV-2496 (GK), 2012 WL 5928859 

Earlier this month, tobacco companies filed an appeal claiming that the phrasing in the proposed statements would "punish and humiliate" them, objections that rest largely on matters that were already decided by the D.C. court in 2009.

Below is the text of the five court-ordered Corrective Statements:

Adverse Health Effects of Smoking

A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking, and has ordered those companies to make this statement.

Here is the truth:
• Smoking kills, on average, 1200 Americans. Every day.
• More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.
• Smoking causes heart disease, emphysema, acute myeloid leukemia, and cancer of the mouth, esophagus, larynx, lung, stomach, kidney, bladder, and pancreas.
• Smoking also causes reduced fertility, low birth weight in newborns, and cancer of the cervix.

Addictiveness of Smoking and Nicotine

A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public about the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, and has ordered those companies to make this statement.

Here is the truth:
• Smoking is highly addictive. Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco.
• Cigarette companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction.
• It's not easy to quit.
• When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain - that's why quitting is so hard.

Lack of Significant Health Benefit from Smoking “Low Tar,” “Light,” “Ultra Light,” “Mild,” and “Natural” Cigarettes

A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public by falsely selling and advertising low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes, and has ordered those companies to make this statement.

Here is the truth:
• Many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they think low tar and light cigarettes are less harmful. They are not.
• “Low tar” and filtered cigarette smokers inhale essentially the same amount of tar and nicotine as they would from regular cigarettes.
• All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, and premature death - lights, low tar, ultra lights, and naturals. There is no safe cigarette.

Manipulation of Cigarette Design and Composition to Ensure Optimum Nicotine Delivery

A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public about designing cigarettes to enhance the delivery of nicotine, and has ordered those companies to make this statement.

Here is the truth:
• Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive.
• Cigarette companies control the impact and delivery of nicotine in many ways, including designing filters and selecting cigarette paper to maximize the ingestion of nicotine, adding ammonia to make the cigarette taste less harsh, and controlling the physical and chemical makeup of the tobacco blend.
• When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain - that’s why quitting is so hard.

Adverse Health Effects of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke

A Federal Court has ruled that Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Altria deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of secondhand smoke, and has ordered those companies to make this statement.

Here is the truth:
• Secondhand smoke kills over 38,000 Americans each year.
• Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults who do not smoke.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, severe asthma, and reduced lung function.
• There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

A tiger can't change its stripes; neither can the lying, cheating tobacco industry

This is what the tobacco companies knew since the 1960s about nicotine addiction:

"nicotine addicts" 
1961 report by British American Tobacco company scientist Sir Charles Ellis applied this term to smokers

"We now possess a knowledge of the effects of nicotine far more extensive than exists in published scientific literature. . . for good reasons the results of Battelle's work have been kept at a high level of secrecy."
February 13th, 1962 BAT memo, "The Effects Of Smoking, Proposal For Further Research Contracts With Battelle," by Sir Charles Ellis, director of research. The Wall Street Journal 05/11/98 This document, which also discusses MAD HATTER II, MAD HATTER III, HIPPO I, HIPPO II, and ARIEL, is Trial Exhibit #11938

"We have, then, as our first premise, that the primary motivation for smoking is to obtain the pharmacological effect of nicotine."
1969 Philip Morris draft report by Thomas Osdene, then VP of Research and Development, to the board of directors, "Why One Smokes." Minnesota Trial Exhibit 3681 Bates # 1003287036-48

"The cigarette should not be construed as a product but a package. The product is nicotine. . . Think of a puff of smoke as the vehicle of nicotine."
Early 1970s Philip Morris memo by William Dunn

"Although more people talk about 'taste,' it is likely that greater numbers smoke for the narcotic value that comes from the nicotine"
1972 memo from Philip Morris

"I believe that for the typical smoker nicotine satisfaction is the dominant desire, as opposed to flavor and other satisfactions."
1972 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. marketing memo AP 02/26/98

"In a sense, the tobacco industry may be thought of as being a specialized, highly ritualized, and stylized segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Tobacco products uniquely contain and deliver nicotine, a potent drug with a variety of physiological effects."
1972 Claude Teague memo "RJR Confidential Research Planning Memorandum on the Nature of the Tobacco Business and the Crucial Role of Nicotine Therein." A 1995 NY Times article by Phil Hilts citing this quote may have been the deciding factor in Clinton's full committment to tobacco regulation.Washington Post 03/31/98

"I have given Carolyn [Levy] approval to proceed with this study. If she is able to demonstrate, as she anticipates, no withdrawal effects of nicotine, we will want to pursue this avenue with some vigor. If, however, the results with nicotine are similar to those gotten with morphine and caffeine, WE WILL WANT TO BURY IT. Accordingly, there are only two copies of this memo, the one attached and the original which I have."
1977 Philip Morris memo by "nicotine kid" WIlliam L. Dunn to Thomas Osdene


Yet, more than 30 years later, they publicly denied that nicotine was addictive.

"I believe that nicotine is not addictive." "I do not believe that nicotine is addictive."

So said the CEOs of the 7 largest US tobacco companies, known as the "Seven Dwarves" when they perjured themselves before the US Congress.  Watch it on YouTube here:

Has the industry changed its tune, even after the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement?

In 2011, the answer is still 'NO'!

In Indonesia, for example, tobacco companies (such as Philip Morris Sampoerna) continue to argue, in court no less, that nicotine and tobacco use are not addictive. See: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Indonesian-Court-Hears-Testimony-That-Tobacco-Is-Not-Addictive-115715414.html

Shameful, lying drug pushers and murderers!

Related articles

• Say You Lied: Feds Want Apology Ad Campaign From Big Tobacco (huffingtonpost.com)
• U.S. Presses Tobacco Firms to Admit to Falsehoods About Light Cigarettes and Nicotine Addiction (nytimes.com)
• U.S. judge unseals gov't demands for tobacco firms (reuters.com)