IQOS Together X launch in Athens / Yann Marois: Here's what we need for a smoke-free future
*“27 milionë duhanpirës kanë përqafuar IQOS”/ Zv.Presidenti i produkteve pa tym në PMI: 90-95% më pak të dëmshme se cigaret
*“27 milionë duhanpirës kanë përqafuar IQOS”/ Zv.Presidenti i produkteve pa tym në PMI: 90-95% më pak të dëmshme se cigaret
2023-10-13 12:31:46
TiranaPost
Hailed as a major achievement in the global tobacco industry, Philip Morris International launched IQOS Together X at a grand event in Athens to celebrate more than 27 million users of the world's number 1 tobacco heating system for adult smokers.
IQOS Together X represents the choice made by millions of IQOS users to move away from traditional cigarettes to less harmful nicotine consumption alternatives, thus radically transforming the smoking process.
Yann Marois, Vice President of smoke-free products at PMI, told journalist Mira Kazhani that the company's vision for "a world without smoking" has changed the lives of smokers who have chosen smoke-free products as a less harmful form of consumption. of nicotine.
"First let me go back to Philip Morris International's vision, which is to replace every cigarette for adult smokers who can't quit smoking. The fundamental change that needs to happen is first that smokers are informed and can use products without burning. We are already aware that cigarette burning is a source of release of harmful chemicals that cause various diseases in smokers and what IQOS does is that instead of burning the tobacco, it heats it, producing 90-95% less harmful and potentially harmful chemicals than cigarettes. So that's the fundamental difference, being able to inform consumers of this benefit is what can actually help us move towards a smoke-free future.
Today we are in Athens, we are in Greece, we are in a market that launched IQOS in 2017 and today it is considered one of the most successful markets of Philip Morris International, in Greece, Athens. About 70% of Phillip Morris's revenue in Greece comes from smoke-free products and this comes from several factors. I think one of them is having the right regulatory environment. A regulatory environment in which we are able to talk to consumers as part of reducing smoking in the home and stopping regular smoking. We have been able to talk to them about the benefits of switching to IQOS and inform them because it is just a matter of trust so that consumers are able to switch to iQOS. They should know that there are much better alternatives to continuous smoking than cigarettes", declared Mr. Marois.
He stated that all parties, including governments, can positively influence a future without tobacco: "In reality, all parties are involved, all interested parties from NGOs to governments. And I think the fundamental thing we need to be able to deliver this smoke-free future is to be able to operate within a regulatory environment in which we can inform consumers."
Mr. Yann Marois spoke about Philip Morris International's multi-billion dollar investment in the development of smokeless alternatives, which by heating tobacco instead of burning it, can reduce harmful and potentially harmful chemicals by 90 to 95 %.
"Since the day we began our journey to a smoke-free future, approximately $10.5 billion has been invested by Philip Morris International in developing smoke-free alternatives, and today 99% of our R&D investment goes into the science to deliver live smoke-free products. Part of that is the number of patents granted to Philip Morris, and we can check that number. We have reached 14150 and the fact that our science is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is widely available for anyone and the community to discuss and challenge it. But today that science is part of those peer-reviewed publications. It's there and it shows that by heating tobacco instead of burning it we are able to reduce harmful and potentially harmful chemicals by 90 to 95%," added Mr. Marois.
According to official data, 27 million smokers are using alternative tobacco consumption products, a figure that according to Mr. Marois is an incredible achievement: "27 million smokers have embraced iQOS and it is an incredible achievement in just 9 years. However, we know that there are another 1 billion smokers, so there is still more work to be done."
The launch of IQOS Together X took place on September 29, 2023, at Ellinikon Park in Athens, Greece, bringing together thousands of IQOS community members from 19 countries around the world in an event of global proportions.
