A federal advisory committee on Thursday recommended that the Food and Drug Administration reject a bid by Philip Morris International to market a smokeless tobacco stick in the United States as safer than traditional cigarettes.

The product, called IQOS, is an electronic penlike device that heats tobacco sticks but does not burn them. It releases nicotine vapor, which the company says is less hazardous than smoke. It is already sold in 30 countries, and is especially popular in Japan.

The company says that IQOS, which contains tobacco as well as nicotine, offers a more natural smoking experience for the smoker than e-cigarettes, its competitor in the growing category of alternative nicotine delivery systems.

The advisory committee met for two days to consider the company’s proposal to sell the product under the agency’s new “modified risk” category, created by Congress with the passage of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The law was intended to encourage development of safer alternatives to conventional cigarettes, which cause about 480,000 deaths each year in the United States alone.