TY - JOUR T1 - Heated tobacco products: things we do and do not know JF - Tobacco Control JO - Tob Control SP - s7 LP - s8 DO - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054774 VL - 27 IS - Suppl 1 AU - Irina Stepanov AU - Alistair Woodward Y1 - 2018/11/01 UR - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/27/Suppl_1/s7.abstract N2 - This Special Issue is focused on IQOS, electronic devices that offer yet another nicotine delivery alternative to smoking regular tobacco cigarettes. IQOS are designed to heat rather than burn tobacco, and represent somewhat of a hybrid of a regular cigarette and an electronic cigarette. Little is known about the toxicity and the public health impact of these products, relative to both the combustible cigarettes and other nicotine delivery products. Nevertheless, IQOS and other heated tobacco products (HTPs) are gaining popularity in some countries, caused in large part by the manufacturer’s aggressive advertising and assertions that these devices are safe.Most in the public health world would agree that the best evidence-based approaches should be applied to reduce death and illness due to tobacco use. Such approaches may include supporting addicted tobacco users to move to alternatives that are less harmful and truly reduce the population burden of tobacco diseases. It is important to bear in mind these two goals – alternative tobacco delivery devices may be less risky than combustible cigarettes for the individual smoker, but if they do not lead to a reduction in the prevalence of smoking there is no gain for public health.What do we know about the safety of IQOS and the effect that introduction of these devices may have on smoking rates and the population burden of … ER -