ALTERNATIVE TRANSITION

Today, the entire world appears increasingly focused on finding alternatives to traditional foods, fuels, and even habits. People have learned how to produce artificial meat and milk, remove the alcoholic component from fermented drinks, generate energy from gusts of wind and sunlight, imitate silk and cotton, among many other innovations.

While in some cases the motivation to replace the "good old" with the "new progressive" stems from the serious depletion of natural raw materials, in most instances it is driven by the need to prevent the extremely harmful effects that producing and consuming many traditional goods have on the global climate.

A harmful habit such as smoking plays no small role in this context. Despite repeated warnings about its damage not only to individual health but also to humanity as a whole, regrettably, the number of smokers continues to grow every year. Therefore, scientists have begun working on introducing less harmful substitutes in this field as well.

A media tour for Azerbaijani journalists to a factory producing sticks for smokeless electric tobacco heating systems of the American company Philip Morris International (PMI), located in the scenic Italian province of Bologna, was dedicated to innovative methods for replacing traditional smoking with smokeless alternatives.

Ambitious goal

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. More than 180 countries have ratified this ambitious document, covering around 90 per cent of the world's population. The Convention provides a legal framework and a comprehensive set of tobacco control measures aimed at saving millions of lives. These include laws banning smoking in public places, higher taxes on tobacco products, and the use of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs.

In 2015, this requirement was reiterated with greater detail, tasking countries with developing new methods and tools to gradually replace the most toxic form of tobacco use—cigarettes (products now sold in many retail outlets only to persons over 18).

It is important to note that statistics show every eighth person in the world is a smoker, with the total number of people addicted reaching 1.1 billion.

In Azerbaijan, the proportion of smokers has remained steady at 30-32% over the last five years. This figure is significant considering that according to WHO criteria, a country is considered tobacco-free if fewer than 5% of its population smokes. This is despite legislative acts adopted over the past seven years that strictly limit smoking in public spaces and introduce high excise taxes along with other deterrents.

Approximately ten years ago, efforts began to create a less harmful alternative for habitual smokers unwilling to give up their addiction.

PMI has involved numerous scientists in this work and established two research and development centres. To date, more than 530 scientific publications on harm reduction from tobacco products have been released.

This suggests that alongside bans, transitioning to smokeless products could be an effective way to reduce harmful statistics. Research indicates that it is primarily the smoke inhaled during tobacco combustion that causes the most damage to smokers' health. In response, scientists have developed products that mimic smoking but eliminate fire and smoke.

Over the years, PMI’s cumulative investment in manufacturing, research, development, and commercialisation of alternative products has exceeded $14 billion.

According to Alexei Kalinichenko, Communications Manager at PMI, this investment has proven successful. Today, more than 40% of the company’s gross profit comes from smokeless products, with plans to raise this share to 60% within five years.

"This is a very ambitious goal because it requires not only sustained investment but also cooperation with authorities and society. Our main message to society is: 'Those who do not smoke should not start; those who smoke should quit; and those unwilling to quit should switch to less harmful alternatives,'" said Kalinichenko.

However, many consider smokeless tobacco products a transitional stage before completely abandoning this harmful habit.

A new approach

To encourage habitual smokers to make the right choice—either complete cessation or at least significant harm reduction (manufacturers repeatedly warn that eliminating all negative effects from alternative products is impossible)—not only public information campaigns are needed but also specific actions by governments and producers.

Although smokeless alternatives are available in most countries worldwide, some governments still list them among banned products.

Producers note that many existing laws were developed before harm reduction products emerged. With new scientific evidence and recognised advances, updating legislative frameworks is necessary. "You can compare this situation to cryptocurrencies or artificial intelligence—many countries do not yet know how to regulate these fields and therefore opt to ban them. However, we are confident that as positive societal results become clear, governmental attitudes toward innovation will change," Kalinichenko stated.

Cost is another factor: not all alternative products are priced comparably with traditional ones. According to producers, government involvement is needed through a differentiated tax policy approach so prices can be accessible for a wide range of consumers. "We want people from different countries with different habits, incomes, and interests to have access to products suitable for them," Kalinichenko explained.

Consequently, manufacturers strive to diversify their product range to include both lower-cost options and flagship products that are more expensive but offer higher quality.

Simultaneously, they insist on strict measures against illegal imports of products from unknown manufacturers and on preventing sales of any harmful products to minors.

Currently, there are no clear statistics on how smokeless tobacco products have affected overall smoking rates or environmental impact since most countries where such products are sold—including Azerbaijan—do not maintain relevant records. However, as mentioned earlier, positive health outcomes are observed in states where populations are quitting traditional smoking en masse. For instance, in Sweden, the smoking rate dropped from 16.5% in 2004 to 5.4% in 2024. Significant progress has also been made in Italy and Japan—among the first countries to introduce smokeless alternatives.

In Japan, cigarette sales have nearly halved since 2014—the same period when smokeless alternatives appeared on the market.

This suggests continued investment in research is essential; perhaps an even better formula for a less harmful alternative can be developed.