Business: Not Time Yet for "alt-ziggy": regulators put hold on cigarette makers' planned "safer cigarette"

-WSJ The tobacco industry’s multibillion-dollar quest to bring a cigarette alternative to market was dealt a setback by U.S. regulators. Scientists advising the Food and Drug Administration said there was insufficient evidence to support a proposed marketing claim that a hand-held device that heats tobacco without burning it lowers the risk of tobacco-related disease. The review of the IQOS device is being closely watched for its implications for the industry and public health. Companies have spent heavily in recent years to research and market tobacco-heating and other new products they believe will lure smokers of conventional cigarettes, whose sales are falling globally. The advisory panel did agree with another claim proposed by Philip Morris International: that switching from smoking cigarettes to using the IQOS device reduces exposure to harmful chemicals. The decisions aren’t likely to quell the intense debate over the safety of cigarette alternatives. Critics say they perpetuate smoking and an addiction to nicotine, while supporters argue they help smokers quit conventional cigarettes, which release toxic chemicals when the tobacco burns.