E-Cigarette Reviews and Rankings

Philip Morris IQOS No Less Harmful Than Cigarettes, French Pneumologist Says

The IQOS heat stick from Philip Morris International is the hottest reduced-risk tobacco product on the market right now, but one French pneumologist claims that it is just as dangerous as regular tobacco cigarettes.

IQOS-Philip-MorrisIn an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, Dr. Bertrand Dautzenberg, a pneumologist at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, in Paris, said that the IQOS is not as harmless as its maker, tobacco giant Philip Morris, would like people to believe.

“No, it’s no less harmful than a cigarette, it is a tobacco product,” Dautzenberg said. “By claiming that this product poses less risk to our health, Philip Morris is running an illegal campaign, and French and European laws prohibit such allegations. IQOS was created to nurture addiction and seduce non-smokers. It’s smoking, an umpteenth attempt to manipulate the industry. It is the same principle as 50 years ago: the filter-less blonde cigarette was invented to replace the brown one, but a Kalashnikov and a pistol have something in common, they both kill.”

Asked what exactly the IQOS contains, the French doctor said: “First of all, tobacco with carcinogenic products, just like a regular cigarette. Philip Morris claims that the tobacco is heated, not burned. That is false. It is slightly burned and releases some carbon monoxide. They added vegetable glycerin to make it look like vapor. But you’re vaping tobacco.”

But is the IQOS similar to an electronic cigarette? “That’s what Philip Morris wants us to believe,” Dautzenberg says. “But there’s a red line that shouldn’t be crossed. The electronic cigarette is a substitute, but an IQOS stick is smoked in five minutes. So we want to smoke another, and these nicotine peaks are addictive.

“That’s not the case with electronic cigarette,” the esteemed pneumologist says. We vape throughout the day, and there is actually a decrease in the number of nicotine receptors in the brain. The two products – e-cigarettes and the IQOS – must be differentiated.”

The Philip Morris IQOS is coming to France in May, after having been launched in multiple test markets in the last couple of years. It is already being hailed as a commercial success by the tobacco company, but Dr. Bertrand Dautzenberg doesn’t think it will catch on in his country.

“Twenty years ago, this kind of product had already been launched on the market and it was a flop. Today, half as many cigarettes are being smoked every day, and we have the Evin Act of 1991, which prohibits tobacco advertising. Faced with this decline, tobacco companies attempt to reinvent themselves.  The IQOS has already been marketed in several countries, and a shop has even been opened in London. It is as classy as a Nespresso boutique, it’s goal is to sell.”

bertrand-dautzenberg

We first wrote about the IQOS when it was announced, in 2014, and to this day that article has remained one of the most popular on Vape Ranks. Judging by the comments, people who have tried it are crazy about it, and those that haven’t are trying to get their hands on it.

But Dautzenberg isn’t the first scientist to be critical of the PM heat stick. Two years ago, Steve Stotesbury, head of scientific regulatory affairs at Imperial Tobacco, said some pretty nasty things about it. He claimed that “there’s a lot of black crud in the iQOS device after using it” and that “it smells like an ashtray”.  He and his team at Imperial had tested the device and found that the same processes that occurred in a regular tobacco cigarette also occurred in the IQOS.

“While iQOS is capable of reducing harmful compounds associated with cigarette smoke by a factor of ten, an e-cigarette is capable of eliminating most of them completely,” Stotesbury said at the time.

Everyone put his harsh criticism on the fact that he was working for a competitor of Philip Morris, but now Dr. Bertrand Dautzenberg seems to be confirming his claims. What is it they say, ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’?

9 Comments/Reviews

  • Brigette says:

    Were can i buy one in Mississauga Ontario..

  • Steve says:

    Theres an IQOS store at Queen and Spadina in Toronto, just saw it yesterday

  • Justin says:
    5 stars

    Love it ain’t smoked a normal cigarette and had a pack of 20 with the iqos and I’ve only smoked 6 over the weekend. Normally would have smoked 10aday so I think it’s a great product

  • gr33nbits says:
    5 stars

    I got one like 2 weeks ago and wont go back to normal cigars, i feel so much better and the cost of the initial machine pays itselft on the short run, im loving it so far.

  • bozena nemcova says:

    Imho those ecig monkey drops, not anyhow controlled and produced wherever asia are the issue, not a PM “profesional” product. But please, its just my Imho statement, not forcing you to anything.

  • Arif nugraha says:

    I like, where i cant have ?

  • ricky says:
    5 stars

    Here in Spain it’s fully available and I have shifted in order to stop smoking. Using the IQOS now for a week I can say that I’m happy with it. It still gives you the feeling quite like a normal cigarette and I smoke much less of it.

    I guess it will still be harmful for our health though. Anyway, that’s normal when you put any kind of smoke in your lungs.

    However, using this IQOS stick it makes me realize even more that I’m a nicotine Junkie so that will help me to quit the bad addiction forever.

    cheers

  • Dave says:
    5 stars

    Well if you smoke real cigarettes, your lungs feel heavy. With IQUOS they dont, neither do you get a tickle throat or a cough so I dont know what to believe now!

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