Since its establishment, Phillip Morris International (PMI) has been a pillar of the tobacco industry and now, after more than 170 years, it’s time to make a change. PMI is showing the world that it is much more than a cigarette company and it can transform and stake its future on replacing cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives—why?
Because it’s the right thing to do− for our families, for our friends, for any of the 1 billion-plus adult smokers who want a change for the better. PMI believes in its vision to one day see the world without cigarettes and for more than a decade PMI has committed to making that vision a reality.
The First Step Towards Transformation
Every journey begins with a single step and, for PMI, that first step was taken back in 2008. The challenge was to give adult smokers who do not quit a better alternative than to continuing smoking.
Over the last 12 years, PMI has invested more than $7 Billion into science and research to develop smoke-free products, and when it began developing its smoke-free products, it started by asking what would get adult smokers to make the switch from smoking cigarettes to an alternative product – and stay with it? With the help of over 400 expert scientists, engineers and technicians, it has developed a portfolio of smoke-free products that deliver nicotine without burning tobacco and which current adult smokers find satisfying.
A Closer Look at the Science Behind Smoke-Free Alternatives
When a cigarette is lit, the tobacco is burned through the process of combustion, which produces smoke and releases the naturally occurring nicotine, as well as harmful chemicals produced as a by-product of the combustion process. It is these harmful chemicals –not the nicotine – that are the primary source of the harmful effects of smoking, and by removing the burning, you can significantly reduce the levels of these harmful chemicals.
PMI’s smoke-free products work by heating the tobacco, without burning or combustion, to produce a flavorful nicotine-containing vapor that a consumer can inhale, but that has significantly lower levels of harmful chemicals than cigarettes while satisfying existing adult smokers with a taste and experience they enjoy about smoking. However, that does not mean that smoke-free products are risk free.
Moving Towards a Smoke-Free Future, Together
PMI is committed to its vision of a future without cigarettes, but it cannot make that vision a reality on its own. Now the time has come to open up the conversation and to bring smoke-free products to the forefront as a suitable alternative for adult smokers who want to make a change.
By offering a diverse portfolio of potentially less harmful products, PMI believes it can inspire an even greater number of adult smokers to make the decision to switch faster. Whether consumers quit completely – which is always the best choice – or switch to an alternative to cigarettes, PMI wants to inspire people to embrace the smoke-free culture and move with them towards a smoke-free future, thus making a positive impact on public health.