In Ukraine and the world are becoming more popular a variety of products that are offered as an alternative to conventional cigarettes. One such option is cigarettes with the technology "heat-not-burn". This is written by Ulyana Suprun, the head of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, on her Facebook page.

In the last nine years (2008-2017), the prevalence of smoking in Ukraine declined from 25.6% to 18.7%. A similar trend is observed in the world, which gives rise to optimism. At the same time, tobacco manufacturers constantly invent a variety of scientific and marketing technologies that could allow them not to reduce sales and profits. And one of these technologies is "heat-not-burn" or "heating-non-burning".

The main difference between the "heat-not-burn" technology in comparison with conventional cigarettes is that it allegedly only heats tobacco without burning it. Because of this, many people believe that this negates the negative impact of smoking. But is it?.

If the sources of declarations to reduce the risk or even health benefits from using this technology are promulgated, then we will see that they are based on studies funded by manufacturers of the same products. But there are no qualitative independent studies that would support these statements,.

Swiss scientists have found that the lack of combustion still does not protect against harmful compounds that are in the smoke. For example, the difference in the content of some carcinogens (such as, formaldehyde, acrolein) is commensurate. The heating effect is sufficient to isolate harmful substances that poison the human body in the same way as it does when smoking a conventional cigarette.

In addition, tobacco, which people smoke with "heat-not-burn", contains nicotine in doses similar to ordinary cigarettes, that is, the nicotine that causes addiction and has a negative impact on health.

In order to unequivocally determine the level of harmfulness of the new technology, it is necessary to conduct long-term epidemiological studies that have not been carried out so far.

One of the biggest problems in the use of alternative tobacco products is that consumers have useless illusions about their safety, which prevents the complete cessation of smoking.

Remember that the best way to get rid of the habit of smoking and reduce health risks is to completely abandon cigarettes.

cosmo. com. ua.

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