Heated tobacco products: a brief

Overview

Heated tobacco products (‎HTPs)‎ are tobacco products that produce an emission containing nicotine and otherchemicals, which is then inhaled by users. HTPs are a re-emerging class of tobacco products marketed asso-called potentially reduced-exposure products, or even as modified-risk tobacco products.

Currently thereis insufficient evidence to conclude that HTPs are less harmful than conventional cigarettes. In fact, there areconcerns that while they may expose users to lower levels of some toxicants than conventional cigarettes,they also expose users to higher levels of other toxicants.

It is not clear how this toxicological profile translatesinto short- and long-term health effects. The Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention onTobacco Control (‎WHO FCTC)‎ recognizes HTPs as tobacco products and therefore considers them to be subjectto the provisions of the WHO FCTC.