The Ministry of Health
prohibited
on Monday the importation, distribution, marketing, advertising and any form of promotion and sponsorship throughout the country of electronic systems or devices commonly referred to as tobacco
heaters
or "heated tobacco products (PTC)".
It did so through Resolution 565/2023, which bears the signature of the head of the health portfolio, Carla Vizzotti and was published in the latest edition of the Official Gazette, from which it entered into force.
According to that document, the disqualification also extends "to all kinds of accessories intended for the operation of said systems or devices, as well as cartridges and tobacco bars to be heated in said systems."
In its recitals, the Resolution explains that these devices "are promoted to be used instead
of conventional cigarettes
, especially in places where smoking is prohibited, arguing that they are devoid of the deleterious effects of tobacco combustion products."
In addition, it ensures that "according to independent research
, 'Heated Tobacco Products' produce aerosols with nicotine
and other chemicals such as acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde, which are harmful and potentially harmful to health."
The regulations also argue that "since nicotine is a highly toxic drug with strong addictive properties, the use of these devices, in addition to the potential risk it represents for individuals with cardiovascular pathologies, can induce drug dependency in new users
.
" .
“Evidence supports that novel products such as PTCs and the like
are especially attractive to children and adolescents
, and their introduction into the market has the potential to lead to smoking initiation in non-smoking youth and adults, threatening the gains already made. in terms of tobacco control through previously implemented public policies”, justified the Ministry of Health in the same document.
Finally, it was remarked that "the independent scientific evidence available on CTPs is sufficient" for the Ministry of Health "to be able to assess
a potential risk to the health of the population
and the development of addictive behaviors in young people, making it necessary to use of the precautionary principle, which supports the adoption of protective measures in the face of well-founded suspicions that certain products or technologies create a serious risk to public health or the environment.
The National Administration of Medicines and Medical Technology (ANMAT), through Provision 3226/2011 dated May 6 of that year, had prohibited the so-called "
Electronic Cigarettes"
, which unlike the aforementioned products
do not contain tobacco but yes nicotine
in variable doses (up to 54 mg/ml or more), as well as many substances such as propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorings, flavorings and others.
What the tobacco company Massalin Particulares said about the resolution of the Ministry of Health
The tobacco company
Massalin Particulares
expressed its
"surprise"
at the measure announced this Monday in the Official Gazette and considered that "it goes
against the most essential common sense and the advances of science
, approved by global health agencies." .
Along these lines, they argued that the decision
"isolates Argentina from the advances that already exist in the world today."
"Heated tobacco products and their devices to heat them represent an alternative for the 1000 million adult people who smoke around the world," they said through a statement where they also highlighted that "thanks to investment, innovation, and technology development,
These devices allow the tobacco to be heated instead of burning it and thus eliminate combustion,
which is the main problem related to the act of smoking”.
"Today's decision by the Ministry of Health
opposes the global trend, means an incomprehensible setback
, and implies the removal of an alternative for the more than 7 million adult smokers in the country," they added.
And they continued: "Throughout the world, today the alternatives that heat tobacco instead of burning it are a trend and are being regulated accordingly, not being prohibited," they remarked.
As an example, they recalled that the FDA authorized in 2019 the marketing in the United States of one of the devices that are marketed in more than 70 markets globally: IQOS from Philip Morris International.
They also highlighted that in 2020, the same agency allowed IQOS to be marketed as a modified risk product with the legends: 'According to the evidence available to date: The IQOS system heats tobacco but does not burn it', 'This significantly reduces the production of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals', and 'Scientific studies have shown that switching completely from conventional cigarettes to the IQOS system reduces your body's exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals'.
Another example they recalled was from the
United Kingdom
, where the UK Health Agency concluded that: 'Compared to cigarettes, heated tobacco products have the potential to expose users to lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals. '.
Finally, at the regional level, they highlighted the case of
Uruguay
where months ago it recognized the differential character of heated tobacco products and framed them within the current tobacco regulations.
The Uruguayan standard, the company indicated, maintains that "there are electronic devices for the administration of nicotine that use a technology by means of which dry tobacco is heated, with respect to which there is scientific data that indicates that they result in less exposure of the users to the toxic substances associated with the traditional consumption of tobacco”.
How tobacco heaters work
As explained by the World Health Organization (WHO) in a document published in March 2020, PTCs heat tobacco, sometimes together with a liquid, to temperatures lower than
in a conventional cigarette
(generally below 600 °C ) using a battery-powered heater.
“That built-in heater can be an external source that aerosolizes the nicotine contained in a specially designed cigarette (as in the case of iQOS and glo) or an airtight heating chamber that aerosolizes the nicotine directly from the tobacco (as in Ploom and Pax). ”, detailed that body.
The devices are promoted to be used as a replacement for conventional cigarettes, but their use may induce drug dependency in new users, the Ministry of Health warned.
And he added: "The heater is charged with electric current and whoever uses it aspirates through the mouthpiece at will to inhale the aerosol, which thus penetrates the body."
Heated tobacco products
“emit aerosols containing nicotine and toxic substances
when the tobacco is heated or the device containing it is heated” and the person using them “inhales these aerosols when puffing or smoking” from that device.
“In addition to nicotine, a highly addictive substance, they contain non-tobacco additives and are often flavored.
Tobacco is supplied in the form of specially designed cigarettes (eg "heat sticks" or "sticks") or in capsules or cartridges," adds the WHO.
In this direction, the international organization detailed that "among the most recent heated tobacco products are variants of high and low combustion temperatures, hybrid electronic devices based on tobacco and liquid, carbon-tipped devices, and others equipped with a perforated metal mesh with tiny holes that heat a sealed, pre-filled liquid capsule.”
The WHO pointed out that there are also "others that allow the temperature and the emission of the aerosol and aroma to be regulated at will" and that "new products in this category, some based on new techniques", were in development at that time.
Among the warnings proposed by the body, it appears that PTCs "contain and are tobacco products", that
"they do not help to quit smoking"
and that they "emit toxic substances similar to those present in cigarette smoke, many of which They can cause cancer."
"Those who use them are exposed to these toxic emissions, some of them specific to PTCs, which
can also affect people in the environment
," the WHO completed.
IS
look too
Philip Morris wants to stop selling cigarettes: he replaces them with tobacco heaters
They ban the electronic cigarette in the country