Philip Morris CEO looks towards discontinuing cigarettes
The company launched its alternative product IQOS(smokeless cigarettes) in the UK market
Packs of Marlboro cigarettes are displayed for sale at a convenience store in Somerville, Massachusetts July 17, 2014. PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON:
Philip Morris International , the world's largest international tobacco company, could eventually stop selling cigarettes, its chief executive told the BBC on Wednesday, as it launched its alternative product IQOS in the UK market.
Smoking bill: No law on e-cigarette, e-shisha
The company's IQOS smokeless cigarette which is already on sale in over a dozen markets including Japan, Switzerland and Italy, heats tobacco enough to produce a vapour without burning it.
The company believes that makes it much less harmful than cigarettes.
After smartphones, e-cigarettes are also exploding
"I believe there will come a moment in time where I would say we have sufficient adoption of these alternative products... to start envisaging, together with governments, a phase-out period for cigarettes," Andre Calantzopoulos said in an interview on BBC Radio 4."I hope this time will come soon," he added.
Philip Morris International , the world's largest international tobacco company, could eventually stop selling cigarettes, its chief executive told the BBC on Wednesday, as it launched its alternative product IQOS in the UK market.
Smoking bill: No law on e-cigarette, e-shisha
The company's IQOS smokeless cigarette which is already on sale in over a dozen markets including Japan, Switzerland and Italy, heats tobacco enough to produce a vapour without burning it.
The company believes that makes it much less harmful than cigarettes.
After smartphones, e-cigarettes are also exploding
"I believe there will come a moment in time where I would say we have sufficient adoption of these alternative products... to start envisaging, together with governments, a phase-out period for cigarettes," Andre Calantzopoulos said in an interview on BBC Radio 4."I hope this time will come soon," he added.