E-cigarettes are also "cigarettes", and supervision must be tightened
"Quit smoking artifact", "harmless steam", "no second-hand smoke", "healthy smoke"... In recent years, electronic cigarettes that have been claimed by manufacturers to have multiple functions have been increasingly sought after by smokers, and even attracted the favor of teenagers.
According to a survey released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the use rate of cigarettes among junior high school students has dropped significantly, but the use rate of e-cigarettes has risen significantly.
Adolescents are at a critical stage of growth, and smoking may cause many harms, both physically and psychologically.
Why is e-cigarette quietly popular among young people?
What are the effects of e-cigarettes on young people?
How to improve the supervision of e-cigarettes so that e-cigarettes are truly far away from the "flowers of the motherland"?
In response to these issues of public concern, a reporter from the Workers’ Daily interviewed relevant experts.
"I don't smoke e-cigarettes as if I'm very dirty"
"A large number of e-cigarette marketing methods advertise e-cigarettes as synonymous with fashion, which is exactly the same as tobacco's original marketing methods." The World Health Organization's representative office in China said in an interview with a reporter from "Workers Daily" that the various additions to e-cigarettes Flavors of sweet, candy or fruit flavors make e-cigarettes more attractive to young people, and eventually lead to young people being exposed to nicotine through the use of e-cigarettes and becoming addicted to nicotine.
Chu Shuilian, an attending physician at the smoking cessation clinic of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, also believes that these e-cigarette marketing strategies are contrary to facts and are misleading, so that young people no longer doubt the harm of e-cigarettes and no longer regard themselves as "smokers." And self-proclaimed as a "technical player", leading to the increasingly serious use of e-cigarettes among young people.
"It is extremely unethical for companies to attract young people to smoke e-cigarettes through marketing." Zhi Xiuyi, vice president of the China Smoking Control Association and vice president of the Beijing Smoking Control Association, emphasized that e-cigarettes are not healthy products. It allows young people to gradually accept nicotine. And gradually became addicted to it, and also cultivated potential cigarette consumers.
For teenagers, classmates often influence each other. Once someone uses e-cigarettes, they will often follow.
This year’s 17-year-old Zhang Yue (pseudonym) has nearly 30 classmates smoking e-cigarettes. He also started to smoke e-cigarettes. How does smoking fit everyone?"
As early as 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration issued the "Notice on Prohibiting the Sale of Electronic Cigarettes to Minors", requiring various market entities not to sell electronic cigarettes to minors.
But in the opinion of Zhang Jianshu, president of the Beijing Smoking Control Association, “it’s not enough to just issue a notice to ban it without penalties. Any regulations that don’t have'long teeth' are useless. Children can still buy e-cigarettes online and deliver e-cigarettes. For advertising and marketing."
The results of the 2019 Chinese Middle School Student Tobacco Survey released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that the proportion of Chinese middle school students who have heard of e-cigarettes and now use e-cigarettes has increased significantly in the past five years.
At the beginning of 2019, the proportion of middle school students who have heard of e-cigarettes is 69.9%. The current e-cigarette usage rate is 2.7%, which is an increase of 24.9 and 1.5 percentage points from 2014, while the proportion of high school students who use e-cigarettes is 3.0. %.
Is e-cigarette really harmless?
The principle of electronic cigarettes is to heat a special solution to evaporate into an aerosol (aerosol) for users to inhale.
The representative office of the World Health Organization in China stated that the aerosols and second-hand aerosols generated during the use of e-cigarettes usually contain toxic substances such as ethylene glycol, aldehydes, volatile organic compounds (VOC), and heavy metals.
Long-term use of e-cigarettes may increase the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and smoking-related diseases.
The National Health Commission's latest "China Smoking Harm to Health Report 2020" pointed out that there is sufficient evidence that e-cigarettes are unsafe and will cause health hazards.
In addition to attracting young people to use cigarettes, e-cigarettes also have a negative impact on the physical and mental health and growth of young people.
In fact, some experiments have proved that multiple components of e-cigarettes may cause potential health hazards.
Chu Shuilian said, "Nicotine will increase the release of catecholamines in the body, leading to increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, vasoconstriction, and damage to the vascular endothelium, promoting the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis, increasing the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, and damaging the human body. Cardiovascular System."
Many people have symptoms such as coughing and uncomfortable throat after smoking e-cigarettes, and the culprit is the formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the e-cigarette.
Dr. Chu Shuilian said that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde can irritate the respiratory tract, nasal cavity and oral mucosa, causing cough, rhinitis, and pharyngitis.
In addition, carbonyl compounds, volatile organic compounds, nitrosamines, and heavy metals in e-cigarettes are also strong carcinogens with potential carcinogenic effects.
Among young people, a considerable part of e-cigarette users are girls.
"From the perspective of tobacco, tobacco can harm women's reproductive system and cause disorders of the endocrine system." Dr. Chu Shuilian emphasized.
Now, Li Li (pseudonym), who is in the first year of high school this year, is trying to quit e-cigarettes. “After smoking e-cigarettes, she always coughs and can't read books. She is a little addicted.
Because of smoking e-cigarettes, 16-year-old Wang Ming (pseudonym) also experienced dizziness, fatigue, and memory loss.
According to Zhi Xiuyi, the actual nicotine content of some electronic cigarettes currently on the market exceeds the data indicated.
"Nicotine is a psychoactive substance with a strong addictive nature. Studies have shown that the addictive nature of nicotine is second only to heroin and cocaine. The use of e-cigarettes among young people is not only addictive, but may also induce them to smoke traditional cigarettes." Dr. Chu Shuilian urged, "You must avoid contact and use of electronic cigarettes by young people."
It is recommended that e-cigarettes be included in the scope of tobacco control in public places
“I think smoking in public places is not good. Some students think it’s okay to use e-cigarettes, but I still feel quite choking.” Zhang Yue said.
"In the past year or two, complaints from Beijing residents about e-cigarette smoking in public places have increased significantly." Zhang Jianshu said that e-cigarettes also have second-hand smoke hazards. As Beijing’s tobacco control regulations were formulated earlier, e-cigarettes have not yet been included in the scope of smoking control in public places. .
According to Zhang Jianshu, the Beijing Smoking Control Association is pushing for a legislative interpretation of the "Beijing Smoking Control Regulations" to include e-cigarettes in the scope of tobacco control as soon as possible.
At present, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Dalian and other places have included e-cigarettes in the scope of smoking control in public places.
In this regard, Zhi Xiuyi also called for actively promoting more places to clarify the prohibition of e-cigarette smoking in public places in local tobacco control legislation, amendments and enforcement.
"my country's e-cigarettes are neither regulated by reference to cigarettes nor managed by pharmaceutical products, but classified as technological products, and the actual regulatory effects are also very limited." Zhang Jianshu suggested that e-cigarettes should be formalized from the perspective of national supervision and formulated as soon as possible. National or industry-level regulations or standards for the production and sales of electronic cigarettes.
Zhang Jianshu suggested that e-cigarettes should be supervised by the National Medical Products Administration and the National Market Supervision Administration, prohibiting the sale, distribution, and use of e-cigarettes to minors.
The Law on the Protection of Minors, which will be implemented on June 1 this year, clearly stipulates that the sale of cigarettes (including e-cigarettes) to minors is prohibited, and no one is allowed to smoke in schools, kindergartens and other public places where minors concentrate on activities. (Including electronic cigarettes).
In this regard, Zhang Jianshu called on the relevant law enforcement agencies to strictly enforce the law, and all violations of the law must be investigated, so that e-cigarettes should be far away from the "flowers of the motherland" as soon as possible.
Dou Feitao