Cigarette sales across Japan have been hit hard since the introduction of HNB into Japan, a new study shows.
It is reported that Japan is the world’s ninth largest cigarette market, but the smoking rate is still very high, but the introduction of HNB has a significant effect on reducing the local smoking rate.
Nancy Lucas, executive director of the Asia Pacific Alliance for tobacco hazard reduction advocates (caphra), said: “when you realize that this decline will only happen rapidly with the introduction of HNB, the decline in adult smoking in Japan is surprising.”.
Researchers in Canada and the United States, one of the most prominent hazard reduction advocates, Professor David schwannor（ Prof.David Sweenor) looked for a possible relationship between JT and HNB sales between 2011 and 2019. Japan introduced HNB at the end of 2015. Using data from the Tobacco Institute of Japan and Philip Morris International (PMI), the researchers found that since 2016, sales of cigarettes only in Japan have accelerated by a factor of five, corresponding to the increase in sales of HNB.
What are the reasons for the rapid decline in cigarette sales in Japan? The study was published on May 20 in the peer-reviewed open access Scientific Journal International Journal of environmental research and public health.
Sweanol explained that although Japanese Regulations exclude alternatives to combustible cigarettes, Japan has proved to be a successful model for reducing tobacco hazards.
“In major markets, we see the fastest decline in cigarette sales. One third of the cigarette market disappeared in a short period of time, which was achieved through non mandatory measures. Smokers are only offered a viable option. “
Another recent study aims to determine smokers’ perception of the health risks associated with HNB use compared to using combustible cigarettes. The study, entitled “perception of the hazards of heated tobacco products and combustible cigarettes by adult smokers in Japan: results of the 2018 ITC Japan survey”, collected data from 2614 adult exclusive smokers and 986 dual smokers. Participants were asked to report their perception of HTP as harmful as cigarettes and their exposure to HNB advertising in the past six months.
The data collected show that 47.5% of smokers think that HNB is less harmful than cigarettes, 24.6% think that HNB is the same, 1.8% think HTP is more harmful, and 26.1% do not know.
Compared with exclusive smokers, dual users were more likely to believe that HNB was less harmful (62.1% vs. 43.8%, P < 0.0001), and they were less likely to report “unclear” (14.3% vs. 29.4%, P < 0.0001).
The researchers concluded that HNB users were more likely than non users to believe that the product was safer than regular cigarettes, and this belief was more obvious among regular users. Similarly, smokers who have been exposed to advertisements are more likely to think that HNB is less harmful than cigarettes.
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