"I think in the UK, ten years from now maximum, you can
completely solve the problem of smoking," Chief Executive
Officer Jacek Olczak said in the report, adding that it would
require the help of governments and regulators.
Doing its part, Olczak said the Marlboro brand "will disappear"
from British store shelves along with its other brands, ending a
more than 100-year association with the country.
Olczak, who has embarked on a more aggressive strategy to
diversify the world's largest tobacco company away from
cigarettes, has previously
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
business/2021/07/24/marlboro-maker-calls-cigarette-ban-britain
called on Britain to treat cigarettes like petrol cars and ban
them in 10 years time.
The $153 billion-dollar company sells Marlboro cigarettes
outside the United States, after it split off from parent
company Altria in 2008. Altria sells Marlboro in the U.S.
Earlier this month, Philip Morris launched a 1.05 billion pound
bid for British asthma drug-maker Vectura as part of its
"evolution into a broader healthcare and wellness company," that
will also see it get more than 50% of its revenue from
smoke-free products and at least $1 billion from products beyond
nicotine by 2025.
The deal has received backlash
https://www.theguardian.com/business/
2021/jul/25/tobacco-firm-philip-morris-calls-for-ban-on-cigarettes-within-decade
from anti-tobacco groups and has spurred a reaction from the
World Health Organization, which called such healthcare
partnerships by Big Tobacco as undermining its progress on
controlling its "deadly products."
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard
Orr)
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