![]() Not to mention public health campaigns-and even companies like mine-urging people not to smoke. “We’ve all heard the line, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’Īnd still, despite often restrictive regulations, high product prices, marketing bans, and packaging designed to discourage buying, today public health data show that a billion people worldwide choose to smoke. He also challenged anti-tobacco organizations to update their thinking, stop blocking innovation, and work toward a common goal to achieve a smoke-free future, faster. He called on governments around the world to follow the examples of countries like Sweden and Japan-as well as the U.K.-and adopt policies that give adult smokers who don’t quit a wide choice of alternatives to continuing smoking so they can make better choices and cigarettes can become a historical artifact. However, PMI’s ability to progress on this mission is being frustrated by a combination of blind opposition from anti-tobacco organizations and governments’ overreliance on the so-called precautionary principle, which some interpret as “better not to do anything until we know everything.” The mission, Olczak explained, is to reduce smoking by replacing cigarettes with less harmful alternatives and ultimately to make cigarettes obsolete. The company has invested more than USD 10.5 billion (as of March 31, 2023) since 2008 in developing and commercializing smoke-free products-which today account for nearly 35 percent of the company’s total net revenues. In 2016, PMI committed to moving away from cigarettes. While this model has limitations and is built on assumptions, the public health cost of ignoring the potential of smoke-free products could be immense. He highlighted the absurd paradox that smoke-free products are banned in some countries while cigarettes-despite their far greater risk of harm-can still be sold. In his remarks to global media, politicians, and policymakers, Olczak shared that “cigarettes belong in museums” but that current policies to reduce smoking prevalence are not working fast enough and may be prolonging smoking.ĭrawing upon a new hypothetical model based on World Health Organization data, estimates, and methods, as well as other third party data, Olczak explained that even if smoke-free products were assumed to be only 80 percent less risky than cigarettes, if people who currently smoke were to switch to them completely, then over their lifetime there’s a potential for a tenfold reduction in smoking-attributable deaths compared with historical tobacco control measures alone. ![]() (PMI) (NYSE: PM), today delivered remarks at the UnHerd Club in London, calling on governments globally to accelerate the end of cigarettes. LONDON-( BUSINESS WIRE)-Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International Inc.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |