During an interview on the show Check Up Health on BFM Business, the spokesperson of Philip Morris International Science, Tommaso Di Giovanni, defended the smoking tobacco solutions developed by the tobacco company, with the stated aim of avoiding tobacco combustion and reducing the harmfulness of the product for smokers by more than 90%.
TOBACCO HEATED LESS HARMFUL? STUDIES DO NOT CONFIRM THIS COMMERCIAL ARGUMENT
The concept of heatable tobacco is based on a simple idea already proven by other tobacco substitutes: giving the smoker his dose of nicotine while limiting the harmfulness of his addiction.
In the case of heated tobacco, and unlike the electronic cigarette, it is real tobacco that is consumed but, unlike a traditional cigarette, there is no combustion of the tobacco and the paper. However, it is combustion which causes 90% to 95% of the harmfulness of a cigarette, nicotine not in itself being a toxic product.
Clearly, a conventional cigarette burns at a temperature between 800 and 900 degrees. The tobacco to be heated is brought to a temperature between 300 and 350 degrees. Sufficient for there to be fumes of nicotine, but not to cause the burning of tobacco.
And to believe Tommaso Di Giovanniit is precisely the fact that tobacco to be heated really contains tobacco, which could make it a more acceptable alternative for many smokers who are unable to quit.
« By giving real tobacco, we have a taste, we have an experience, we have a ritual that is much closer to that of the real cigarette "Said Di Tommaso before saying that his" goal is to give something better and less harmful for the 13 million French, and more than a billion around the world who smoke ».
However, heated tobacco remains very controversial. There is little South Korean health authorities reported finding five "carcinogenic" substances in heated tobacco systems sold in the local market. The level of tar detected is higher than that of combustible cigarettes.
A CARTON IN JAPAN, A DIFFICULT COMMERCIALIZATION IN FRANCE!
Marketed for almost a year in France, the tobacco to be heated is a promising substitute for tobacco and complementary to the other solutions of the market. As recalled 
the journalist of BFM Business Fabien GuezHowever, the product still lacks independent impact studies and long-term analysis to accurately determine its impact on risk reduction.
Smoking tobacco also meets other resistance in France. " Marketing is not easy. People are used to cigarettes that are easy to consume and buy. There you have an electronic product. You must accompany the smoker. It must be helped to adapt to new rituals According to Tommaso Di Giovanni.
A problem that obviously does not exist in Japan, where the tobacco to heat is quickly returned to the customs, so much so that a smoker in five has abandoned in recent months the classic cigarette for this substitute.
« In Japan, it's good for a lot of reasons. The benefits of the product are passed on to smokers and there is (more pronounced) interest in technology, innovation and science. The curve of people who stop smoking has accelerated with tobacco products to heat ", he added.
Also on the set of Check Up Santé, the tobacco expert Christophe Cutarella concluded the debate. " It is better to stop, but for those who do not want to stop it is better to reduce the risks. New ways are welcome to help reduce risk ».
Source : Economiematin.fr/
