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Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Leon Perera
Non-Constituency MP
Question No. 1014
To ask the Minister for Health (a) what evidence is available to determine if heated tobacco products will reduce the overall risk to both the smoking and non-smoking populations; and (b) whether the HSA is assessing or has assessed heated tobacco products to decide this question.
Answer
1 Existing evidence suggests that heat-not-burn tobacco products are not significantly different from traditional cigarettes in terms of risk to both smokers and non-smokers.
2 HSA has also done preliminary tests on such products and found that the nicotine content is comparable to traditional cigarettes. Evidence from other countries suggests that heat-not-burn tobacco products are not significantly different from traditional cigarettes in terms of emissions.
3 While there have been claims that such tobacco products are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, these claims are made by the tobacco industry and, to date, there is very little independent evidence supporting such claims.