Cigarette Company Philip Morris Tries to Sell Idea of ‘Safer’ Tobacco

NBC News covers smoking alternatives.

When Philip Morris International took out an ad campaign in Britain claiming it wanted to “give up” smoking, American Lung Association CEO Harold Wimmer had a one-line zinger in return: “Stop selling cigarettes today.”

Now the tobacco company is asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to endorse what it claims is a “safer” tobacco product — heated tobacco.

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“By stepping out of the way, the FDA can fulfill its obligation to support tobacco and tobacco-alternative technological innovations, thereby allowing the market to do what decades of public health campaigns have failed to accomplish: provide smokers with satisfying alternatives to fully quit tobacco or practically eliminate tobacco-related harms,” Michelle Minton of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said in her group’s comments.

Read the full article at NBC News.