Heated tobacco warning

A scientist and health advocate says it is important that the European Parliament is presented with the available evidence that heated tobacco products ‘remain both harmful and highly addictive’.

Writing an opinion piece in The Parliament Magazine, Professor Charlotta Pisinger said that no product that damaged the lungs and human health should be promoted to young people across the EU, especially in the ways these new products were presented.

‘As Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Standing Committee on Tobacco Control, I will present my research findings to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the 30th May, alongside MEP Gilles Pargneaux and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day,’ she said.

‘Independent research suggests that there is a substantially higher health risk than claimed by the tobacco industry.

‘I have discovered that tobacco companies have not informed the public that some harmful substances – such as particulate matter, tar, acetaldehyde (a carcinogen), acrylamide (a potential carcinogen) and an acrolein metabolite (toxic and irritant) – were found in high concentrations in their studies.

‘Some studies also found much higher concentrations of formaldehyde (a potential carcinogen) in heated tobacco products than in conventional cigarettes.’

New Heated Tobacco Products: No Smoke, No fire? hosted by MEP Gilles Pargneaux is due to be held from 13:30 to 15:30 on May 30 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, room Louise Weiss N3.5. Registration is at: https://forms.ersnet.org/new-heated-tobacco-products.