Squeeze out 16,000 flavors of fruit cigarettes that tempt teenagers, and electronic cigarettes attract "pit"
"If I don't have it, I don't smoke anymore. The state has helped me to force me to quit smoking." Nana, a Beijing girl, is a fan of mint-flavored e-cigarettes. She has smoked for 4 years and averages one cartridge every two days.
She was relieved to hear that flavored e-cigarettes were banned from sale in May.
During an unannounced visit to an e-cigarette store in Beijing, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily saw that nearly half of the shelves were empty. The flavors are all out of stock, and the overall inventory is running low.”
On March 11 this year, the "Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes" issued by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration clearly stated that from May 1, the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes other than tobacco flavors and electronic cigarettes that can be added to their own atomizers is prohibited.
This means that e-cigarettes will usher in the strongest supervision in history, and fruit and other flavored e-cigarettes will withdraw from the market.
Why are flavored electronic cigarettes so popular among young people?
Can e-cigarettes be used as a substitute for smoking cessation?
What are the dangers of "top" electronic cigarettes?
Electronic cigarettes are no longer "sweet", and protecting minors from electronic cigarettes has become a top priority. The strongest supervision is to control the "first cigarette" sold to teenagers.
16,000 flavors of electronic cigarettes attract young people into the "pit"
"Watermelon, cola, grapes, passion fruit... I have tried them all. My favorite is the mung bean flavor. It's sweet, and it doesn't look like smoking at all." Feng Ye, a post-00s college student, said that he first came into contact with e-cigarettes because of curiosity. "Many of my classmates have one, and it is very convenient to hang it around the neck."
With the rise of flavored electronic cigarettes in our country, an electronic cigarette hanging on the chest and puffing from time to time has become a trend and fashion in the eyes of many young people.
Zhao Tong, co-founder of the Tobacco Industry Research Institute Volume Think Tank, said that from the perspective of the development of the international and domestic markets, the main consumers of electronic cigarettes are young people. Attract and expand young users.
Zhao Tong analyzed that the major e-cigarette brands use fruit and other flavors to attract young people. The reason is that, at the technical level, the existing technical level of the e-cigarette industry is difficult to restore the tobacco flavor well, and it is difficult for traditional smokers to convert.
From a marketing perspective, most of the new consumer goods on the market start with young people, and after forming a fashion trend, they gradually spread to a wider spectrum of people.
In particular, the fruit flavor has a high degree of reduction, a large amount of smoke, and a good atomization effect, which can better meet the needs of young consumer groups.
A set of data released by the World Health Organization in August 2021 shows that there are currently about 16,000 flavors of e-cigarette products on the market, including fruit flavors, candy flavors, and various sweet flavors.
These flavored e-cigarettes are especially attractive to some young people who are not familiar with the world.
According to the "Research Report on E-Cigarette Marketing and Its Impact on Adolescent Health" released by the Institute of Health Communication of Fudan University in October 2020, nearly half of the surveyed teenagers started using e-cigarettes between the ages of 13 and 15, and in the past 30 days The flavors most used by teens who use e-cigarettes are fruit flavors.
Since March this year, Hubei Xianning Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, Henan Zhumadian Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, Henan Zhumadian Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, Guiyang Guanshanhu District Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, Henan Anyang Neihuang Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and many other provinces and cities have opened local tobacco monopoly bureaus The first ticket for selling electronic cigarettes to minors, cutting off the "black hand" reaching out to minors.
"Top" electronic cigarettes are poison, not smoke
Can e-cigarettes really help quit smoking?
"The main ingredient of electronic cigarettes is nicotine, which is not very helpful for smoking cessation." Tong Xunliang, an attending physician in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Beijing Hospital, pointed out that electronic cigarettes are not "smoking cessation artifacts", and electronic cigarettes with flavoring agents are only based on nicotine. With some flavor modifications, its addictive properties are basically the same as ordinary cigarettes.
She explained that tobacco "addiction" is generally accompanied by physical dependence and psychological dependence, and the two cannot be separated.
Tong Xunliang reminded that electronic cigarettes have many adverse effects on the physical and mental health and growth of young people. Frequent use of nicotine-containing products will cause a certain degree of damage to the central nervous system, such as sleep disorders, learning disorders, decreased attention, mood swings, self-esteem Decreased control, etc.
It is worth noting that there is no clear standard for the content of nicotine in e-cigarettes, and some unscrupulous merchants will illegally add excessive nicotine to e-liquids and even synthesize cannabinoids in order to make them “superior”.
The "Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes" explicitly prohibits the sale of electronic cigarettes that can add atomizers by themselves, and this is blocked.
On March 23, the Beijing Dongcheng District People's Court heard a drug case involving the sale of synthetic cannabinoid e-liquids (commonly known as "top" e-cigarettes).
The police recovered 129 disposable electronic cigarettes and 141 cans of canned e-liquid from the person and residence of a person involved in the case, which contained a total of 896.77 grams of synthetic cannabinoids.
The Dongcheng District People's Court sentenced him to "15 years in prison, deprivation of political rights for two years, and confiscation of personal property of RMB 60,000" for the crime of drug trafficking.
On March 31, the People's Court of Jiujiang District, Wuhu, Anhui sentenced a "top" electronic cigarette case and sentenced 12 defendants to "17 years in prison to Criminal detention for a term ranging from five months, and a fine ranging from 60,000 to 5,000 yuan."
Bai Yu, assistant judge of the Criminal Division of the Dongcheng District People's Court, said that "top" e-cigarettes are drugs, and their production, sales, and smoking are all illegal and criminal, and e-cigarettes that can add vaping substances by themselves are buried for drug crimes. Hidden danger, its degree of harm is self-evident.
E-cigarettes ban "sweet"
"The development of the electronic cigarette industry was once in a gray area." Zhao Tong told reporters that with the sudden emergence of the domestic electronic cigarette market, the supervision of electronic cigarettes has been put on the agenda.
In August 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Sale of Electronic Cigarettes to Minors", emphasizing that various market players must not sell electronic cigarettes to minors.
In October 2019, the two departments jointly issued the "Notice on Further Protecting Minors from Electronic Cigarettes", prohibiting the online sales and advertising of electronic cigarettes.
According to the company's data, as of December 3, 2021, there were 110,200 existing enterprises with the keyword "electronic cigarette" in my country.
Under the strong supervision, e-cigarettes are still growing.
In the first half of 2021, a total of 48,300 e-cigarette-related companies were registered, a year-on-year increase of 912%.
The rapid expansion of the e-cigarette market has brought about a mixed bag of chaos, such as poor product quality and irregular sales.
To this end, in November 2021, the State Council issued a decision on amending the “Regulations on the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China” to implement new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes with reference to the relevant regulations on cigarettes, which means that the supervision of new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes will be There are laws to follow.
Tobacco control is not only related to the health of young people, but also to the future of the country and the nation.
The "Healthy China 2030" Planning Outline proposes: "By 2030, the smoking rate of people over the age of 15 will be reduced to 20%." All sectors of society have been calling for "banning the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes."
He Lin, deputy to the National People's Congress and deputy director of the Health Education Institute of the Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, once proposed to speed up the introduction of industry norms to keep young people away from e-cigarettes.
This year, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference submitted a proposal to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes from a legislative height, reducing the attractiveness of e-cigarettes to young people from the source.
On March 11, the "Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes" was promulgated. The full text consists of six chapters and forty-five articles, which will be implemented from May 1.
Zhao Tong said that the introduction of the strongest supervision of the "Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes" will undoubtedly bring great shocks to the electronic cigarette industry. Some small and medium-sized electronic cigarette players will leave the market sadly, so that electronic cigarettes are legally compliant, and the industry is moving towards standardization and the development of the rule of law. Lay a solid foundation.
Bai Yu said that to completely eliminate the flow of e-cigarettes to young people, the whole society needs to participate in joint control. "Family is an important position for the healthy growth of young people. Parents should set an example and stay away from tobacco. Propaganda and improve the self-protection awareness of young people. Regulatory authorities should further clarify the business scope and business density of electronic cigarette products, keep electronic cigarette shops away from places where young people gather from the perspective of laws and regulations, implement the inspection and registration of cigarette sales outlets, and strictly inspect electronic cigarettes. Tobacco online trading, so as to control the 'first cigarette' sold to teenagers".
(The youth interviewed in this article are all pseudonyms)
China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Han Yangxian Oujie Source: China Youth Daily