'No Way E-cigarettes Are Worse Than Traditional Cigarettes,' Says Philip Morris President in Brazil

01/24/2018 - 11h23

The cigarette industry believes we will live in a future that is free of smoke, but not of smokers.

After spending years trying to fight anti-smoking policies, the cigarette industry decided to embrace a new cause: that of electronic cigarettes, a healthier alternative, according to Wagner Erne, the president of Philip Morris in Brazil.

Earlier this year, the company, which manufactures Marlboro and L&M cigarettes, made a big announcement in British newspapers: it said it was going to give up traditional cigarettes and only sell the electronic kind.

Electronic cigarettes have been banned in Brazil since 2009. The company is hoping that regulatory agency Anvisa will revisit its ban sometime during the beginning of the year. The agency, however, told Folha that it is unlikely that electronic cigarettes will be regulated anytime soon.

The executive acknowledges that the transition is part of a survival strategy, but he argues that the new products are not as harmful to health.

He argued that European countries have already authorized the sale of electronic cigarettes, and that even if the benefits are only demonstrated thirty years from now, it would still be worth it to take the risk since the evidence that has been obtained indicates that one can't do much worse than traditional cigarettes.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

Read the article in the original language

	Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
	A man exhales vapor from an e-cigarette