Technology presents the tobacco industry with an enormous opportunity to continue to give smokers their desired nicotine, but in a less harmful way, said Debra Crew, CEO of Reynolds American.
“If we can put a man on the moon, we can deliver tobacco to people with less risk than smoking,” Crew said in a speech at the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum in New York on Wednesday. She likened Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s new tobacco initiatives to President John F. Kennedy’s quest to put a man on the moon. Gottlieb’s vision, like Kennedy’s, can be a leap for mankind, she said.
Gottlieb announced in July the FDA would start the process of lowering nicotine content in cigarettes to non-addictive levels. It also said it would delay implementing new rules for reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes.
While Crew said Wednesday that the industry is ready to meet the challenge, one regulator is not as optimistic.
Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said the revised deadlines gives the agency the best chance to encourage innovation of products that are less harmful than convention cigarettes. Crew expects this effort will spark a race to innovate.
Zeller was more skeptical, saying the tobacco industry has been at least acutely aware of the dangers of cigarettes for 60 years but has barely acted to reduce harm.
In a separate speech at the conference, he called the debate around harm reduction “stunningly unproductive” and one that has been in a “complete and total stalemate” over decades. He said he could be optimistic if the debate can be re-framed and is hopeful Gottlieb’s July announcement can create a pathway forward.
But it will take help from the tobacco industry because there is “no way” the FDA can executive its plan on its own, he said.
“What we do is not a spectator sport. It’s a participatory sport,” he said. “This is an opportunity for those who care and are interested to play and not just sit on the sidelines and watch.”
Crew acknowledged industry and government needs to work together to make progress. To do that, Zeller said, regulators and companies need to find common ground.
Right now, he said he does not think the two sides have any. However, they both now agree that not all nicotine products are the same.
The tobacco industry applauded the FDA for acknowledging that nicotine products fall along a “continuum of risk” in its July announcement. Cigarettes produce most of their toxic chemicals when they undergo combustion, or in other words, when they are lit.
“Nicotine lies both at the heart of the problem, but also potentially in the sweet spot of the solution,” Zeller said.
Big Tobacco companies have been developing nicotine products that are supposedly safer than cigarettes. The tobacco industry markets them as safer alternatives for adult smokers who want to continue smoking. The FDA recognizes these products’ potential.
Philip Morris International announced Wednesday at the conference it would pour $80 million a year for 12 years into a foundation that wants to eradicate cigarette smoking, but does not oppose people transitioning to alternative nicotine products like Philip Morris’ IQOS heat-not-burn system.
Derek Yach, who crafted the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is leading the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. He said he was initially skeptical of whether people would actually shift from cigarettes to alternatives like e-cigarettes. His position has since changed.
“If we can get the message out that most smokers want to quit but can’t. Not because they have weak wills, but they’re dependent to a product, behavior or chemical,” he said. “If we’re able to reduce the harmless contents of cigarettes, smokers will be able to continue with nicotine at a substantially lower risk and continue to live a healthy life.”
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew Myers called Philip Morris’ foundation nothing but a smokescreen to divert attention from the company’s practices and products. The company’s efforts can’t be taken seriously as it continues to market cigarettes and fight anti-smoking policies, he said in a statement.
“Until Philip Morris ceases these harmful activities, its claims should be seen as yet another public relations stunt aimed at repairing the company’s image and not a serious effort to reduce the death and disease caused by its products,” Myers said.