The RACGP has slammed an attempt by Philip Morris to gain approval to sell smoke-free heated tobacco products in Australia, arguing the devices have the same safety questions as e-cigarettes.

The global tobacco giant applied to the TGA in December for an end to the ban on ‘heat-not-burn’ tobacco products, which it has been selling overseas, branded as IQOS.

As with nicotine-containing e-cigarette liquid, the products — which often look like cigarette sticks — are prohibited under schedule 7 of the TGA’s poisons standard.

Philip Morris says that, unlike conventional cigarettes, so-called heat-not-burn devices heat tobacco to temperatures below its ignition point so that, instead of burning it, a nicotine-containing aerosol is formed.