WHO comments on new status of Philip Morris IQOS

At a time when Philip Morris is communicating in all directions about an equivocal announcement from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the WHO is redoubling its efforts to alert populations and governments.

This Monday, July 27, the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed it necessary to speak out on the recent granting by the American FDA of the status of "modified risk tobacco product (MRTP)" to Philip Morris' heated tobacco device, IQOS. The international organization, whose mandate since 1948 has been to support all populations towards the highest possible level of health, wishes to clarify the situation.

Beware of shortcuts

Using the FDA's terms, the WHO insists that "modified risk product" does not mean "product without health risks". An increase in consumption based on the granting of this status would therefore be deplorable. Behind the FDA's decision, it is indeed the aid to quit smoking and the corresponding reduction in the number of smokers that is targeted.

Furthermore, in its communication, the WHO appreciates the importance of providing some clarifications regarding the dangers of IQOS smoke. While the device owes its status to the scientific observation that its smoke exposes consumers and those around them to fewer toxic compounds compared to conventional cigarettes, it is wrong to claim that IQOS is harmless to health. The smoke released by IQOS has two notable differences from that of cigarettes:

• It contains certain particles in larger proportions;
• It contains other particles, but their harmfulness has not been proven because the available knowledge is still insufficient.

In any case, the status granted by the FDA comes with limitations for Philip Morris. The tobacco company is effectively not allowed to promote the IQOS with messages other than the modification, and not the mitigation, of risk. There is therefore no reason to say that the FDA would consider this product healthy, as the WHO clearly confirms: "the heated tobacco device remains a tobacco product and is therefore, by definition, not harmless to health."

A global convention to ensure progress in the fight against tobacco

There Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) applies to all tobacco products, including the most recent ones. The International Organization therefore takes the opportunity of this event to expressly request States Parties to ensure its proper implementation in their jurisdictions; WHO specifically recalls Article 13.4(a) of the Convention which prohibits the advertising, promotion or sponsorship of tobacco products and which is binding on States Parties.

For information, the United States is not a "Party to the Treaty" and the FDA's decision was made on the legal basis of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The States Parties to the Convention, for their part, are not intended to authorize the promotion of a tobacco product through communication likely to create doubt about the characteristics of the product or its dangers to health.

As a key element of its intervention, the WHO insists on the fact that the effectiveness of the provisions of the FCTC is essential to succeed in reducing the supply and demand for tobacco products, which are currently responsible for 8 million avoidable deaths per year worldwide.