Big Tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco (BAT), are selling heat sticks made from nicotine-infused substances such as rooibos tea, countering an incoming European Union ban on flavoured heated tobacco products, reports Reuters.
According to the report, BAT is launching a version of its sticks containing nicotine-infused rooibos tea instead of tobacco in nine European markets, including Germany and Greece. The company plans to roll out the product globally, it told Reuters.
The move provides “adult nicotine users and smokers with the widest possible range of reduced-risk products,” BAT said in a statement.
However, there could still be unknown risks associated with inhaling the tea, researchers warned. “Anything that burns or is vaporised… and inhaled into the lungs, probably will cause some effects,” said Erikas Simonavicius, a research associate at King’s College London. Tobacco companies have yet to publish any research on the health effects of rooibos or other zero-tobacco sticks, Simonavicius added.
BAT, the first major tobacco company to say what its zero-tobacco sticks are made from, declined to say whether it had conducted such research, Reuters said.
Philip Morris International (PMI) will begin rolling out a zero-tobacco stick later this year, it said during an investor day in September. It declined to tell Reuters what the product is made of, or to comment on its health implications. According to the report, PMI CEO Jacek Olczak told shareholders that its zero-tobacco sticks could avoid the regulatory scrutiny that tobacco products face.
BAT’s zero-tobacco sticks are not subject to current EU tobacco rules, the company told Reuters. That means it can sell rooibos sticks in flavours such as peppermint and tropical fruit even after a ban on flavoured heated tobacco products is implemented across the bloc later this month (October).
Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco International declined to comment on whether they will launch zero-tobacco sticks.