There is a significant opportunity in South Africa right now to create a smoke-free society, including smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.
This year, alternatives to cigarettes were introduced to the South African market, allowing adult smokers to switch to scientifically substantiated smoke-free products as soon as possible.
We are convinced that smoke-free products have the potential to present less risk of harm than continued smoking. We believe that products like these will one day replace cigarettes altogether.
Cigarettes are a dangerous product, and it is well known that the best way to avoid the dangers of smoking is never to start, or to quit.
Nevertheless, based on the World Health Organisation's predictions, there will be more than one billion smokers by 2025. Therefore, alternative products that have the potential to significantly reduce the risk of disease compared with smoking cigarettes are a fundamental complement to the regulatory efforts aimed at reducing smoking prevalence.New products include one that heats tobacco to temperatures of around 300°C, creating an aerosol and not smoke, which both minimises the formation of harmful and potentially harmful substances (on average 90-95% reduction) and maximises the likelihood of acceptance by smokers in delivering similar levels of nicotine as a cigarette as well as the natural tobacco flavours.
At this lower temperature many of the chemical reactions associated with combustion do not take place. Already three million people have quit smoking and switched to IQOS [a Philip Morris product], which is now available in 25 countries.
Creating a smoke-free South Africa is a mammoth task as the country has more than seven million smokers.
Consequently, all stakeholders in the industry have a critical role to play and the adoption of sound regulations that can significantly help consumers accelerate switching from cigarettes to less harmful alternative products is an essential component of a smoke-free vision, so the growing number of experts and governments that are taking steps to support the role that science and innovation can play in public health is encouraging.
We recognise that our scientific work must also be assessed by independent experts. We welcome such review and are sharing our scientific data for independent verification with qualified third parties...