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Our mission is to replace cigarettes

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with smoke-free products that are much better alternatives

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for the men and women who smoke

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and achieve this as soon as possible.

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To achieve this mission, we are fundamentally transforming ourselves,

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learning from our past but looking forward towards a very different future.

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But this task is not something we can accomplish alone.

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We absolutely need the help of everybody of goodwill

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to join this effort.

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Be it governments, people in public health,

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be it tobacco control advocates, or even people in everyday life.

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They can help people around them move out of cigarettes.

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And that’s what I’m calling about.

01:05

Let’s have a conversation on how this can be best achieved

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as soon as possible.

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We have a task in front of us.

01:16

One billion people smoke today

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and according to the World Health Organization,

01:23

by 2025, there will still be one billion people that smoke

01:28

despite all the regulatory measures on cigarettes.

01:30

The products we propose clearly do not burn.

01:36

They all heat tobacco, or a liquid

01:39

so, by definition, they are at much lower temperatures

01:43

and hence they are likely to be better alternatives than cigarettes.

01:50

The logical discussion is, like in any other product category,

01:53

if better alternatives exist

01:58

they should be made available to consumers

01:59

with the right regulatory framework and the right information

02:04

so they can make adult choices.

02:14

In certain countries, you cannot compare tobacco products, by law,

02:18

so, it’s very difficult to tell people

02:20

this is better for you than a cigarette.

02:23

In some other countries, you can’t even talk to consumers at all

02:27

because any tobacco product communication is totally prohibited.

02:29

How can you explain a novel product in detail

02:33

so that the consumers fully understand and talk informed decisions,

20:38

if you can’t talk to them?

02:40

If we have appropriate regulation,

02:42

I think we can get there in a much shorter period of time

02:46

which means, essentially, we can move out of cigarettes and smoking

02:54

in much lesser periods of time.

02:59

Quitting is best

03:00

in order to eliminate the risk

03:04

compared to using other nicotine products, especially cigarettes.

03:08

To convince the one billion-plus people who smoke today to switch

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is not a small challenge

03:17

and even a company the size of Philip Morris International

03:21

cannot achieve this on its own.

03:23

So, we need help, and urgently.

03:25

We need help from people in governments, the regulators.

03:28

We need help from people in public health and the tobacco control community

03:34

and the society in general

03:36

because everybody knows some smokers around them

03:40

and they can help.