How will corporation tax change under Making Tax Digital?

As part of ‘Making Tax Digital’, an initiative to make tax administration more effective, the UK government is opening a consultation for the design of a digital platform for filing corporation tax

Social Impact: Embedding social impact into the heart of business

By partnering with social enterprises, businesses can accelerate growth and ensure their operations include a positive humanitarian and environmental impact

Climate change: Managing the ‘Green Line’ to address climate action

Traditionally, the top and bottom lines of a business are its most important metrics. But companies need to start treating their “green line” – the measurement of their environmental efforts – with just as much importance

The circular economy: Enabling the transformation to circular business

The circular economy could unlock $4.5trn in economic growth. To capture this growth, transparency and collaboration within business are crucial

Philip Morris launches innovative new cigarette alternative

Leading cigarette producer Philip Morris has launched iQOS – an alternative to cigarettes, which heats tobacco enough to smoke the vapour without burning the raw material

Philip Morris hopes to eventually do away with cigarette manufacturing altogether, pumping huge investment into vapour-based alternatives

On November 30, Philip Morris International (PMI) announced its radical new approach to the tobacco industry: the end of conventional cigarettes. Speaking on UK radio, CEO Andre Calantzopoulos addressed the phasing out of PMI’s traditional product in favour of the new iQOS smokeless cigarette.

The iQOS differs from normal cigarettes in function; instead of burning tobacco, it heats it just enough to create a smokeless vapour that still imparts the flavour of the tobacco. The company claims that this is far safer, with 90 to 95 percent fewer harmful chemical by-products like benzene and tar.

PMI has put a lot on the line for this drastic shift, investing $650m over the last three years, with the current expenditure expected to pass $200m a year. The product launched in Japan and Italy in 2014, and will make its UK debut in London on December 1.

The iQOS’s biggest rival, the e-cigarette, vaporises nicotine that is suspended in liquid. PMI made the bold decision not to buy into this technology back in 2000, claiming the price was too high, and instead instructed hundreds of scientists to work on creating an alternative product that retains something of the authentic cigarette experience. Of course, heating substances enough to produce vapour without burning is not a new idea – such devices have existed in the cannabis community for many years. PMI’s innovation is in marketing the technology to tobacco smokers as a halfway-house between chemical vaping and traditional smoking.

The iQOS, if successful, will be entering a huge, lucrative market. Six trillion cigarettes are sold globally each year, and it is the company’s hope to attract a share of those users. By replicating the act of smoking while supposedly more than halving the lethality, PMI is hoping to convert smokers to their innovative technology. The company has also been outspoken in seeking to eventually phase out the production of cigarettes altogether.

The iQOS differs from normal cigarettes in function; instead of burning tobacco, it heats it just enough to create a smokeless vapour that still imparts the flavour of the tobacco

However, not everyone is ready to change their opinion on the controversial company. Among others, writer John Porter expressed his dismay on PMI’s Twitter page: “Philip Morris explaining their safer cigarettes [is] like a serial killer offering to use sharper knives as a courtesy to victims.” Others have vociferously condemned the BBC for giving the company what they feel amounts to an advertising platform.

PMI has dominated headlines for years, battling health industry professionals and anti-smoking groups. Most recently, it lost its case against the Australian Government’s aggressive cigarette packaging campaign. Unusually, however, some health campaigners have admitted that the move to PMI’s new technology could have a positive effect on public health worldwide. They are among a great number of interested parties waiting on scientific evidence of the product’s effects to come to the fore. For now, the emboldened company will press on as the world waits to see if there really is no smoke without fire.