Disclose and Reduce Nicotine Levels

Resolution Text

RESOLVED:  Shareholders request the Board take steps to preserve the health of its customers by making available to them information on the nicotine levels for each of our brands, including heated tobacco products, how those levels are determined, and begin reducing nicotine levels in our brands to a less addictive level.

WHEREAS: According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide use tobacco products, 80% of whom are in low- and middle-income countries;

Philip Morris International (“PMI”) states on its website: “Nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical in the tobacco plant, and is one of the reasons why people smoke cigarettes. Nicotine is addictive and is not risk free;”[1]

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”): “All tobacco products contain nicotine including cigarettes, non-combusted cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, hookah tobacco and most e-cigarettes. Using any tobacco product can lead to nicotine addiction. This is because nicotine can change the way the brain works, causing cravings for more of it. Some tobacco products are designed to deliver nicotine to the brain within seconds, making it easier to become dependent on nicotine and more difficult to quit.  Nicotine is what keeps people using tobacco products. However, it’s the thousands of chemicals contained in tobacco and tobacco smoke that make tobacco use so deadly. Some of these chemicals, known to cause lung damage, are also found in some e-cigarette aerosols;”[2]    

PMI’s “Marlboro’s volume outside the United States and China was 233 billion cigarettes, reinforcing its leadership position as the number-one cigarette brand worldwide.” [3]  The company announced that its non-combusted, heated tobacco product IQOS volume growth increased 22% year over year in Q3 2022 and that it is paying the Altria Group $2.7 billion (pre-tax) in exchange for the ability to market IQOS in the U.S., effective April 30, 2024; [4]    

The European Commission wants to ban sales of all flavored heated tobacco products [5] and the FDA has proposed a rule “that would establish a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and certain finished tobacco products;”[6]

A report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism[7] found that PMI “is drastically misleading consumers about the amount of nicotine in its range of IQOS heated tobacco products… in some promotional material, and to Bureau staff posing as consumers, PMI has claimed there is 0.5mg of nicotine in each tobacco stick, but new research conducted by the Bureau has revealed the actual figure is more than eight times higher;”    

PMI disputed the Bureau’s claim, saying that the Bureau conflated the measure of nicotine emission (what a person breathes in) and nicotine content. The Bureau recognized that without any clear universal regulation as to which figure should be used and how it should be described, consumers will continue to be misled;

In its Q3 2022 presentation to investors, PMI said ‘there was no notable difference in the nicotine absorption between cigarettes and IQOS.”[8]
 

[1] https://www.pmi.com/glossary-section/glossary/nicotine

[2] https://www.pmi.com/glossary-section/glossary/nicotine

[3] https://www.pmi.com/investor-relations/overview/building-leading-brands

[4] https://philipmorrisinternational.gcs-web.com/static-files/88d67ac2-85a8-4509-bbec-e061490b43ac

[5] https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-want-ban-heated-tobacco-product/

[6] https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=202204&RIN=0910-AI76

[7] https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2022-08-28/philip-morris-misleading-public-about-nicotine-in-heated-tobacco

[8] https://philipmorrisinternational.gcs-web.com/static-files/88d67ac2-85a8-4509-bbec-e061490b43ac