IQOS manufacturer changed its claims about its properties – AMCU
LLC "Philip Morris Sales and Distribution" changed the statement about the properties of IQOS in accordance with the recommendation of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. It concerns information regarding the lower health risk of such products compared to cigarettes.
On December 24, 2024, the AMC issued a mandatory recommendation for the company to cease disseminating false information about the properties of IQOS, the committee reminds.
"It concerns the dissemination by the company of information about a 95% reduction in certain substances in IQOS, as well as about a lower health risk of such products compared to cigarettes. The AMC established that the company's claim about a 95% reduction in certain substances in IQOS compared to cigarettes is inaccurate because it is unclear which specific chemical substances and in what quantities were compared when calculating their reduction by 95%. Accordingly, it was unclear whether this refers to all such substances in IQOS and cigarettes, a greater number of them, or only some of them," – notes the AMC.
The AMC also established that the claim about a lower health risk of IQOS compared to cigarettes is inaccurate because it lacks information about the specific studies on which the conclusions about the lower health risk are based.
"Even more importantly, such statements did not include a disclaimer about the absence of long-term, including epidemiological, studies that could determine the long-term effects of IQOS on consumer health over time," – explain the committee.
Similarly, the conclusions about the lower health risk of IQOS compared to cigarettes, which are currently based on clinical and non-clinical studies that are short-term relative to epidemiological ones, cannot be confirmed or refuted.
LLC "Philip Morris Sales and Distribution" agreed with the AMC's conclusions outlined in the recommendations and reported their full implementation, as noted in the message.
Specifically, the statement about the reduction of certain substances in IQOS was clarified: with information that it concerns exactly 9 harmful chemical substances (excluding nicotine), recommended by the World Health Organization for reduction in cigarette smoke.
This comparison of these indicators became the basis for the conclusion of a 95% reduction.
It was also clarified that the statement about a lower health risk now is based on evidence, including data from 10 clinical and 18 non-clinical (up to 2 years) studies conducted by the company's scientists.
The company also clarified the statements with important information that long-term (compared to clinical and non-clinical) epidemiological studies, during which the impact of IQOS on public health will be measured over time, are ongoing, meaning the results of such studies are currently unavailable.
After the changes, consumers will be able to make informed decisions regarding the use or non-use of IQOS, the AMC notes.
"Currently, the updated statements are only disseminated on the company's websites, including online stores where IQOS products can be purchased. At the same time, the company has ceased disseminating relevant messages in brand retail materials and other locations," – added the committee.
Recall:
It was previously reported that on December 30, 2022, the Antimonopoly Committee initiated a case against "Philip Morris Sales and Distribution" due to the dissemination of unverified information about health risks associated with using the IQOS system.
