KOREA
Manufacturers of heat-not-burn (HNB) products have fired back, refuting the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s announcement in early June results of its study on the safety of HNB products, finding the products to be equally, if not more, harmful compared to traditional cigarettes.
According to the ministry, a single HNB cigarette stick used for a tobacco heating device released a similar amount of nicotine compared to a conventional cigarette (0.01~0.7 milligram). Meanwhile, it produced 4.8-9.3mg of tar, while a conventional cigarette produced 0.1-9.3mg.
However, the ministry did say that HNB cigarettes contain less toxicants compared to conventional cigarettes, but that they can still cause serious diseases including cancer, and therefore it is hard to say that they are less harmful.
Industry insiders have hit back, saying that the ministry’s method of measuring the amount of harmful chemicals in HNB cigarettes was obscure.
“Since HNB cigarettes, which works by heating the cigarette stick up to 300°C inside the heating device, release vapor, unlike a conventional cigarette which creates smoke through combustion. It does not make sense to compare two different products which work in totally different ways,” said a BAT Korea official.
“Although their method for safety test – ISO and Health Canada methods – is credible, the ministry did not have a clear standard of comparing harmful chemicals produced from HNB cigarettes,” he added. Another industry insider said that it was not appropriate to “simply compare the total amount,” as the constituents of steam from HNB and smoke from conventional tobaccos are “qualitatively” different.