The aim of the public health groups should be to reduce the incidence of smoking and not to create obstacles for smokers seeking an effective alternative to tobacco.
Despite criticism from certain health groups and the alarmist tone of some recent news reports, BAT France confirms that these tobacco-free nicotine products can offer French smokers an effective alternative to tobacco products.
In addition to the preventive measures already in place to limit access by young people, BAT France is in favor of stricter regulations, banning the sale of these products to minors and regulating authorized points of sale, as well as the maximum nicotine concentration in pouches and their labeling. These measures are aimed at preventing these products from becoming attractive to minors, among other initiatives.
BAT’s marketing guidelines require that all promotional material be aimed at adults. In addition, all persons featured in communications are adults. The company has also gone beyond current regulatory requirements for these products by demanding retailers to verify the age of buyers at the point of sale.
“We share the government’s objective of achieving “the first smoke-free generation by 2032[1]”. But to achieve this, it is essential to reorient current strategies in order to obtain tangible results. The figures are unequivocal: the current method is not working, with the smoking rate stagnating at over 31% in France[2]. Government, health groups and industry must work together in a meaningful way to come up with effective solutions. As far as nicotine pouches are concerned, the solution is not a ban, but regulation, by implementing a key measure of the National Tobacco Control Program: “to draw up a coherent roadmap on the regulations applicable to all nicotine products, such as nicotine sachets”.
Our door is always open to these discussions” concludes Mr. Charbonneau.
To find out more about fair and effective regulation to achieve a smoke-free France, visit our new website – www.francesanstabac.fr .
END
Romain BAYLE
+33 620 497 554
romain_bayle@bat.com
About BAT
BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a purpose to build A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health impact of its business through offering a greater choice of enjoyable and less risky products for adult consumers. The company continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives*† . In order to deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric multicategory consumer products business. BAT’s ambition is to have 50 million consumers of its non-combustible products by 2030 and to generate £5billion of New Categories revenue by 2025. BAT has set stretching ESG targets including achieving carbon neutrality for Scopes 1 & 2 by 2030 and eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic and making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. BAT employs over 53,000 people and operates in over 180 countries. The BAT Group generated revenue of £25.8 billion in 2020 and profit from operations of £9.9 billion. The company’s Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-risk*† New Category tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non combustible tobacco products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products, modern oral products including tobacco-free nicotine pouches, as well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In 2020, we had 13.5 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 3 million on the year before.
* Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive.
† Our products as sold in the US, including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without FDA clearance.
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