Study logs heated-products sidestream emissions

Imperial Tobacco says that it has tested the heated-tobacco product, iQOS, and found that ‘a large number of different chemical compounds were released into the airspace around the … product during consumer use, indicating the generation of sidestream emissions,’ according to a EurekAlert story relayed by the TMA.

The study was published on October 19 in the Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry.

Imperial tested the commercially-available iQOS [manufactured by Philip Morris International] to assess whether the product generated sidestream chemical emissions when activated, and the company’s head of scientific regulatory engagement, Dr. Steve Stotesbury, said the results had shown that further research on heated tobacco products was needed.

Stotesbury suggested that heated-tobacco devices should fall under the same regulation as regular cigarettes in respect of indoor use and smoke-free legislation.

He said that a number of tobacco manufacturers were promoting products that heated tobacco rather than burned it, with the claim that these devices produced mainstream emissions but not sidestream emissions.

However, the Imperial study had found that the heated tobacco products, when activated, produced “a large number of different chemical compounds”.

Since the public health community said there was no safe level of exposure to ‘tobacco-containing product emissions,’ Imperial’s finding warranted further investigation.

Stotesbury made the point that though heated tobacco devices were sometimes confused with electronic cigarettes, the heated devices contained blended or processed tobacco as was found in conventional tobacco products.

And he said that an Imperial study of sidestream emissions from a Nicorette inhalator and an electronic cigarette had shown the two devices had similar chemical characteristics.