The parent company of Marlboro and other brands wants to phase out cigarettes and concentrate exclusively on smoke-free products, Newsweek reported.
Philip Morris International announced it will do "something really big" by emphasizing electronic substitutes over cigarettes, the magazine reported. The product the company will focus on is IQOS, a device that heats tobacco, rather than burning it, Newsweek reported.
According to research conducted by Philip Morris, cooler temperatures lower the level of 15 noxious chemicals found in cigarettes by 95 percent, Sky News reported.
"If we stop selling cigarettes, someone else is going to sell them because people buy them," Andre Calantzopoulos, CEO of Phillip Morris International, told Sky News. "So I don't think that will have any impact on public health or the health of people.
“At the end of the day, the ambition we have is to replace cigarettes as soon as possible, with better alternatives for the people who continue smoking.”
Philip Morris sells other smoke-free products, including e-cigarettes.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use causes nearly 6 million deaths per year worldwide and 480,000 deaths in the United States annually.
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