13:41 27 July 2021
Ban on cigarette sales in the UK?
Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris International - one of the largest tobacco companies and cigarette manufacturers - has called on the UK to ban cigarettes within the next 10 years. He believes cigarettes should be treated like cars with internal combustion engines.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Jacek Olczak argues that a government ban would send a clear message to smokers, many of whom still believe that “alternatives are worse than cigarettes”. Philip Morris International’s CEO insists that by giving smokers a “smokeless alternative”, and introducing appropriate regulation and information campaigns, the smoking problem “can be solved once and for all”. This could happen within 10 years, according to Olczak.
It is worth mentioning that PMI has no intention of giving up cigarette production in the near future. According to a March 2021 announcement, the company plans to derive more than 50% of its revenue from smokeless products by 2025. According to WHO data cited by the Guardian, smoking causes the deaths of about 8 million people a year.
