‘Smoke-free future’

NEUCHATEL – This is my second time to participate in the “Technovation” event being held at the R&D (research and development) Cube of Philip Morris International (PMI) here at its headquarters in Switzerland. The first time was in January 2020, or two months before the lockdown started in the Philippines following the COVID-19 pandemic.

So it is sort of a return visit to Neuchatel, one of the 26 cantons or territories in Switzerland. (A canton is similar to a state in the United States.) The Technovation event is a continuing corporate activity of the PMI coming on the heels of the inauguration of its P8.8-billion manufacturing facility in Batangas last April 15.

Along with its Philippine affiliate, Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), the new manufacturing facility was put up and located in the company’s 25-hectare property in the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan City. Since its inauguration, it is now producing specially designed tobacco sticks for PMI’s “smoke-free” heated tobacco product (HTP) lines. The PMI views their new plant facility as another milestone in their company’s drive to achieve their corporate vision of a “smoke-free future” in the Philippines.

Representing President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) at the inauguration of the PMI factory were Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos. In his message, the agriculture secretary thanked the giant American tobacco company for fulfilling its investment pledge to PBBM during his last US official visit as well as its continuing support for tobacco farmers and their families in the Philippines.

The President’s home province, Ilocos Norte, is one of the country’s chief producers of Virginia tobacco used in the manufacture of cigarette products and one of the biggest agricultural products of the Philippines being exported. The PMI started producing finished and semi-finished goods in their state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in Marikina and now in Batangas.

In his remarks at the inauguration rites, Jacek Olczak, PMI chief executive officer, committed “to delivering a smoke-free future” with the latest innovations to further improve the quality and safety of their HTPs, also called “heat-not-burn” devices. “This facility embodies the spirit of science-based innovation that defines our company today,” Olczak cited.

Olczak is credited with steering PMI’s transformation into a business-to-consumer company that is observing its ten-year “smoke-free journey” that started in 2014. The Polish Olczak was appointed to head PMI in May 2021. He started his career with PMI in 1993 and rose through the ranks, beginning in finance and general management positions across Europe, including managing director of PMI’s markets in Poland and Germany and president of the European Union Region.

And in the process of doing so, Olczak led PMI’s “expanding the company’s product portfolio into wellness and health care,” through the so-called “harm reduction” innovations in their product lines.

IQOS, currently the PMI’s most popular tobacco heating device, was launched in the Philippines in 2020, together with its accompanying tobacco sticks called HEETS. This coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when my friend, who shifted to using IQOS, escaped the “cold turkey” effect after quitting his smoking habit. Although he has been smoking cigarettes since he was a teenager, his transition enabled him to gradually quit nicotine addiction from his imported brand of Japan-made menthol cigarettes.

The next thing he knew, he no longer craved a nicotine fix and lost any desire to smoke again.

He quit but he had already developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a common illness of smokers.

All PMI smoke-free, nicotine-containing products are intended for adults who would otherwise continue smoking or using other nicotine products and who are looking for a better alternative to cigarettes. Thus, PMI’s public advisory: “If you don’t smoke, don’t start. If you smoke, quit. If you don’t quit, change.”

The Philippines has the most stringent laws against smoking in public places – be it cigarettes or e-cigarettes or vapes. This is not to mention the so-called “sin taxes” or higher rates of excise taxes on all cigarette products in a bid to disrupt the smoking habits of Pinoys.

Ironically for a giant multinational company, PMI has adopted the “bold ambition” to get rid of cigarettes, a product deemed harmful to one’s health for smokers. And, equally harmful too, to “secondhand smokers,” or the people who do not smoke but are exposed to and breathe the air filled by cigarette smoking.

While not risk-free, PMI argued their smoke-free products are a “far better choice than continued smoking” of cigarettes, the tar content of which has been medically proven to cause cancer. “By leveraging science and technology, we can provide these (smoking) people with products that have the potential to be far less harmful than continuing to smoke cigarettes,” PMI asserted.

IQOS Ilumina, the latest version of PMI’s heated tobacco device and its consumable heat sticks called TEREA, were introduced to the country last year. In late 2023, PMFTC added ZYN nicotine pouches to its portfolio of smoke-free products. In 2023, PMI reported 74 percent of their commercial efforts and 99 percent of their R&D expenditures were spent to create smoke-free products.

The smoke-free business of PMI accounted for 38 percent of their net revenues for the second quarter of this year. From their own estimates, 72 percent of smokers who switched to IQOS had stopped smoking, PMI declared. PMI further estimates 36.5 million adults around the world use their smoke-free products. Of this total, 30.8 million are IQOS users, PMI noted.

Much earlier, PMI and PMFTC invested $3.1 million in 2018 to put up a solar power plant at its manufacturing facility in Batangas. The 2.5-megawatt solar plant is expected to reduce more than 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions with more environment-friendly electricity produced from renewable energy source.

Using science-based innovative energies to replace conventional fuels is also aligned with its vision of a “smoke-free future,” PMI touted.