Malta："Historic Milestone" Sees Smokeless Tobacco Products Given Green Light Across The US... But They''re Still Prohibited In Malta

Source from:  Lovin Malta 05/29/2019

The US has just been added to a list of 44 countries allowing the use of IQOS, an electric heat-not-burn tobacco system that has now become the first of its kind to qualify for sale in the States. However, as more countries embrace the device, the situation in Malta remains unchanged.

In just two years, 7.3 million adult smokers have chosen to switch from combustible cigarettes to heat-not-burn tobacco products, and this latest decision by the US' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now make the device available to the approximately 40 million American adult smokers.

"This decision by the FDA is a historic milestone," said André Calantzopoulos, CEO of Philip Morris International (the company behind IQOS). "All of us at PMI are determined to replace cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives that combine sophisticated technology and intensive scientific validation. Furthermore, Phillip Morris fully supports the stringent marketing guidelines and requirements as laid down by the FDA.”

Apart from the US, 19 EU countries allow the widespread use of IQOS... but the device is still prohibited in Malta
Despite the high number of smokers on the island, IQOS is prohibited under a general ban of smokeless tobacco products.

Smokeless tobacco was totally banned in Malta in 1988, later reconfirmed in 2016 by Legal Notice 67. According to the law, smokeless tobacco is defined as "a tobacco product not involving a combustion process, including chewing tobacco, nasal tobacco and tobacco for oral use".

Last year, ahead of World No Tobacco Day (31st May), tobacco companies in Malta lobbied the government to regulate heat-not-burn technology, claiming it could reduce the public health consequences of smoking since the products do not required combustion for nicotine deliver. The Health Ministry seems to however disagree with this point.

"Tobacco products consumed in a process not involving combustion (such as smokeless tobacco products) are relatively new developments and research on their health effects is limited and related to emissions rather than long-term health effects," a Health Ministry spokesperson had told Lovin Malta last year.  Enditem