China's vape use should be put under tobacco control as soon as possible?

The "Vape Industry Supervision Status Report of Public Health and Technology Supervision Research Report (2019)" completed by the Tsinghua University Public Health and Technology Supervision Research Group shows that in 2017, the number of vape consumers in China reached 7.4 million, and each year The growth rates are all above double digits.

After experiencing the initial product incubation, the capital most sensitive to the market first heard the wind. Capital chasing has accelerated the formation of this vent. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently thousands of vape companies in China, and new competitors are added almost every day. The vape concept has been formed in the stock market. Individual vapes have Cigarette head companies are valued at more than $ 2 billion.

What followed was the chaos of the vape market. First, the concepts were rampant and the names were different. Unlike traditional tobacco advertising, vape advertising and promotional signs are basically unregulated, and various types of language are flooding various advertising platforms, which has a significant effect on shopping guides for consumers. Secondly, vape has no industry standard and the content of various components And the lack of specifications of materials, such as the non-standard nicotine content in e-liquid, the nicotine content is seriously exceeded, and even formaldehyde, propylene glycol, and glycerin can be detected in the gas generated by e-liquid.

When the harm of tobacco addiction has become deeply rooted, vape has become the new darling of old smokers and young people. In fact, vape is no less harmful and addictive than traditional tobacco. On September 11, foreign media reported that the US Department of Health in Kansas announced the first case of vape-related deaths in the state, the sixth in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that from May to June this year, the number of vape-related lung diseases has surged, with about 450 related cases in 33 states.

At the same time, e-liquid contains a certain amount of nicotine. As we all know, nicotine is one of the important ingredients of tobacco addiction. However, in China, the attributes of vape have not been clearly defined. In relevant laws and regulations, no article has been found to explicitly mention that "vape" belongs to tobacco, and the classification of tobacco in the tobacco industry standards has not yet included "vape".

Therefore, relevant people in the society have called for the introduction of vape industry standards and improvement of government supervision. At the end of July, the person in charge of the National Health and Health Commission said that it planned to regulate vape through legislation.

However, the author believes that in view of the actual characteristics of vape, it should be prioritized and identified as an addictive tobacco product as soon as possible. On the one hand, it conforms to the actual situation of the vape market and can quickly improve its supervision to prevent blank periods.

The characterization of vape in various countries can be used as a reference. The data shows that Brunei, South Korea, Lithuania, Malta, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries define vape as tobacco products, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, etc. define vape as pharmaceutical products, while Bulgaria, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Russia and other countries define it as a general consumer product. In general, most countries include vape in the strict control of tobacco products and medicines.

On the other hand, the classification of vape into tobacco products has a direct effect on controlling the expansion of the smoking population and improving the national health. On May 31, the Chinese Center for Disease Control released a national tobacco control survey report, and the results show that the total number of smokers in China has fallen for the first time! It is worth noting that the number of smokers of statistical caliber does not include the growing vape population.

Undoubtedly, if vape is defined as a tobacco product or a quasi-tobacco product, it can be immediately included in the scope of the current more comprehensive tobacco regulatory policies, and its impact on young people will be further limited in terms of related publicity, advertising, and sales. Prevent smokers and the spread of tobacco harm.

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