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The following interactive infographic shows some of the potential impacts that could be associated with the different stages of the HTP production chain (to view information on suppliers and impacts, move the cursor over each link in the chain).
The production of tobacco heating devices is linked to the manufacturing and extractive industries, mainly mining, because it requires metallic and non-metallic minerals, some of them critical minerals, i.e. those that are essential for the energy transition and its impact on the development of countries, such as germanium, boron, gallium and arsenic. Also needed are gold, platinum and tungsten among others that are necessary for the production of microprocessors or semiconductors and electronic circuits. Heated tobacco products include a ceramic heating foil containing gold and platinum (PMI-IQOS).
Some minerals used in the production of electronic devices are considered conflict minerals, including tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. These are raw materials that are often mined illegally and without state control in conflict regions or high-risk areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or one of its neighboring countries, where violations of human rights and international law are closely linked to this activity. The extraction of these minerals can sometimes be used for the purpose of financing armed conflicts in some countries. Since 2014, companies registered in the United States are required to file an annual report with the SEC on whether they use any of the conflict minerals.
PMI has published a list of suppliers of these metals in different countries. We identified the associated risks and impacts that the extractive activity of these metals has on the human rights of the communities living in the extraction sites. Among the main ones are: deterioration of the environment, water scarcity, contamination of aquifers and, consequently, deterioration of the health of indigenous peoples and communities. Likewise, the lack of prior, free and informed consultation for the development of many of these extractive projects, the criminalization of environmental and human rights defenders, violence, child exploitation, displacement and the financing of armed conflicts, among others.
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The HTP supply chain, like others based on the intensive exploitation of natural goods, is a business that deepens an extractivist model in which, paradoxically, the countries that consume the least products, in this case HTPs, are those where the environmental and social liabilities and the consequences of human rights violations remain and are felt most acutely.