Tobacco: Marketing

(asked on 13th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to authorise the marketing of the IQOS electrically heated tobacco system as a modified risk tobacco product in the US, if he will (a) undertake a review of policy in relation to such products in the UK and (b) introduce a regulatory framework for those goods based on risk.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 3rd August 2020

On 7 July 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) classified IQOS as a ‘modified risk product’ and permitted the use of certain information in their advertising and marketing of the products. The FDA states that this does not mean these products are safe or “FDA approved” and they will continue to monitor them.

The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) provided an independent assessment of the harms of heated tobacco products for the Government. COT reported in December 2017 and found that the evidence suggests heated tobacco products pose a risk to users and though there is likely to be a reduction in risk for cigarette smokers who switch to these products, it is best to quit entirely.

In the United Kingdom heated tobacco products are regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) and classed as a novel tobacco product. The Government has a legal commitment to carry out a post-implementation review of TRPR by May 2021.

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