CEO Jacek Olczak has called on the UK government to ban cigarettes within a decade, reports The Guardian.

According to the report, Jacek Olczak said the company could “see the world without cigarettes [..] and actually, the sooner it happens, the better it is for everyone.” Cigarettes should be treated like petrol cars, the sale of which is due to be banned from 2030, he said.
Government action would end the confusion felt by smokers, some of whom still thought the “alternatives are worse than cigarettes”, Olczak told the Sunday Telegraph. “Give them a choice of smoke-free alternatives […] with the right regulation and information it can happen 10 years from now in some countries. You can solve the problem once and forever.”

PMI recently said it wanted half its turnover to come from non-smoking products as it transforms into a “healthcare and wellness company” with executive pay tied to its new mission to “unsmoke the world” by phasing out cigarettes.
Nonetheless, the company is heavily criticised from anti-smoking campaigners who accused it of hypocrisy after its acquisition of Vectura, a British pharmacy company that makes asthma inhalers.