WARSAW, Poland. — Philip Morris International (PMI) and other members of the international community praised the Philippines for being the first in Asia to enact a legislation that treats separately products that emit smoke from those that do not.
The Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products (VNNP) Regulation Act, also known as the Vape Regulation Bill, lapsed into law last year. It regulates “the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use and communication of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, and novel tobacco products.”
Tommaso Di Giovanni, PMI vice president for International Communications, said with the new law, “the Philippines is certainly a pioneer.”
“(The Philippines) is the first in Asia that enacted legislation that actually treats separately products that do not smoke and products that smoke. Elsewhere, you have pioneers in public health and experts in public health, like the UK, the US or New Zealand, or Italy or Greece. And I think the Philippines is actually joining this group of pioneers to do something to accelerate change,” Di Giovanni said at the sidelines of the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) which ended Friday.
Undersecretary Sharon Garin, who currently oversees the Department of Energy’s Financial and Legal Services, was one of the resource persons who talked during the week-long GFN.
A co-author of the VNNP, Garin said their objectives were firstly for minors not to consume VNNPs and secondly for current smokers to adopt a less harmful habit.
“If we removed flavors, that might affect the adults who were already smokers. They want more options when they decide to switch to a less harmful product. So, the stance was let’s reduce the attractiveness of these products to minors. For instance, it’s prohibited to have packaging which is attractive to children, so cartoon characters are not allowed,” Garin said.
“The second point is to keep the flavors so that those who opt to switch (from cigarettes) to a healthier product have more options available. While the flavors are not restricted, the way you can name them is, so they cannot have flavours with names such as bubble gum that might attract children. It was not easy to formulate [this legislation] but that was how we balanced it and I think all the stakeholders were quite satisfied with the outcome.”
PMI has taken strides disrupting its own industry with the goal to replace regular, combustible cigarettes with better alternatives for those who would otherwise continue to smoke.
It is now focusing on the development and commercialization of its heated, not burned, tobacco products like IQOS and Bonds, which are now both available in the Philippines.
Di Giovanni noted the Philippines is a very important market for PMI.
“It’s one of the key markets for us. We always invest in the Philippines from tobacco growing to manufacturing. It’s one of the key countries,” Di Giovanni said without disclosing numbers.
“Obviously we always look at investing as the shifting to smoke free product goes, we will need more manufacturing facilities,” he added.
PMFTC, the Philippine affiliate of PMI, said the construction of a new manufacturing plant for its “specialized heated tobacco sticks” began early this year–an investment worth P8.8 billion and “could generate as much as 220 new specialized jobs and seen as a boost to the local tobacco growing industry.”
Latest studies show that more than a year after IQOS was launched in Metro Manila, there has been a 2.7 percent increase in its sales.
“We soft launched IQOS very recently. And right now the numbers are too small to even talk about, but it’s picking up. Also, we started in very selective locations. We’re not everywhere, we’re not widespread. (But) What we observe is there is interest. That’s very promising. I would say, for a country like the Philippines which has, if I’m not mistaken, 16 million smokers. I think we have to get to a substantial number. But I think now, with this new environment, with the situation, if everyone goes in the same direction the Philippines may pick up rapidly,” Di Giovanni said.
“I’m positive because the Philippines is a country that always welcomed innovation. So as soon as we’re able to scale up commercialization I’m sure IQOS will pick up,” Di Giovanni added.
PMI envisions that by 2025 more than half of its global net revenues will come from smoke-free alternatives, like IQOS.
To realize this goal, Di Giovanni said PMI has invested $11 billion in research and development, employed more than 900 scientists, engineers and technicians, and produced hundreds of independently reviewed studies to support the development of smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.
