The "fancy" of Electronic cigarette attracts teenagers, and how to supervise it needs to be refined
The Decision on Amending the Regulations for the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the China (Draft for Comments) clarifies the regulatory principles for Electronic cigarette. However, insiders believe that this is not enough. It is urgent to rectify the current mess and issue the national standard for Electronic cigarette.
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Last week, Electronic cigarette practitioners across the country were struck by a piece of news: the Decision on Amending the Regulations for the Implementation of the Tobacco Monopoly Law of the China (Draft for Comments), drafted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the China Tobacco, proposed that "new tobacco products such as Electronic cigarette should be implemented with reference to the relevant provisions on cigarettes in these Regulations". This is the first time that new tobacco products such as Electronic cigarette are proposed to be regulated according to special laws.
A stone stirs up a thousand waves. With reference to cigarette management, will the production and sales of Electronic cigarette be licensed and monopolized like cigarettes? Can the negative impact of Electronic cigarette on teenagers be reduced? Will Electronic cigarette be taxed like traditional cigarettes?
More regulatory regulations urgently need to be introduced
"When this policy comes out, everyone has expectations, and the state will take charge of it." Chen Gulong, founder of the steam fan, a media in the Electronic cigarette industry, told reporters that the introduction of the new Electronic cigarette regulation policy was not surprising.
According to the Report on Electronic cigarette Industry Regulation (2019) issued by the Public Health and Technology Regulation Research Group of Tsinghua University, the Electronic cigarette market grew by $616 million from 2012 to 2017, with a compound annual growth rate of 62%. A research report of CSC Financial pointed out that the size of China's atomized Electronic cigarette market in 2019 was US $1.5 billion, accounting for 0.6% of the overall domestic tobacco market. China is the main producer of Electronic cigarette, but the user penetration rate of Electronic cigarette is only 1.2%, far lower than that of Europe and the United States.
Along the way, electronic cigarettes have also hidden a series of problems while growing rapidly. The most worrying thing is the impact of Electronic cigarette on teenagers. Many teenagers were not smokers at first, but under the marketing promotion of Electronic cigarette, they thought that smoking Electronic cigarette was a novel and harmless trend and became "e-smokers".
The above-mentioned report of the research group of Tsinghua University summarized the "routine" of advertising and marketing of Electronic cigarette: Electronic cigarette is symbolized as a consumer product of the upper class society and represents an independent personality and lifestyle; In cultural products, especially TV dramas and videos, Electronic cigarette are associated with a cheerful, relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.
Under the "all pervasive" marketing promotion, many teenagers have smoked Electronic cigarette. The Chinese Youth Tobacco Survey Report released by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2014 showed that 45.0% of junior high school students had heard of Electronic cigarette, and 1.2% of junior high school students had used Electronic cigarette in the past 30 days. In 2019, the latter proportion reached 2.7%.
The World Health Organization's 2019 Global Tobacco Epidemic Report points out that there is not enough evidence to quantify the health risks associated with Electronic cigarette. Both users and non users of Electronic cigarette may face health risks. In this report, the World Health Organization also pointed out that more and more evidence showed that in specific scenarios, young Electronic cigarette users were more likely to start using traditional cigarettes in the future.
In order to protect teenagers from the influence of Electronic cigarette, the regulatory authorities have issued a series of measures in recent years.
On November 1, 2019, the China Tobacco and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Notice on Further Protecting Minors from Electronic cigarette, urging e-commerce platforms to close Electronic cigarette stores in a timely manner and remove Electronic cigarette products from the shelves in a timely manner.
Subsequently, eight national departments jointly issued the Notice on Further Strengthening Tobacco Control among Teenagers, warning various market entities not to sell Electronic cigarette to minors, especially Electronic cigarette through the Internet. The Law on the Protection of Minors, which will take effect on June 1, 2021, also includes Electronic cigarette in the regulations for the first time, emphasizing the prohibition of selling cigarettes and Electronic cigarette to minors.
Even so, there are still many Electronic cigarette ignoring or bypassing regulatory regulations.
Li Enze, vice chairman of the Public Welfare Law Professional Committee of the China Association for Tobacco Control, found during his visit that there are still many Electronic cigarette stores around kindergartens and schools in some places, even some supermarkets and convenience stores are selling Electronic cigarette, and some Electronic cigarette will be sold alongside toys, stationery and food, which has virtually played an advertising role in marketing and publicity for young people.
Li Enze said that although the Law on the Protection of Minors explicitly prohibits the sale of cigarettes and Electronic cigarette to minors, many hidden practical problems are still difficult to solve, and more specific regulatory provisions and enforcement rules are needed.
When will the national standards be introduced
In the discussion about the future, Electronic cigarette practitioners and tobacco control people are most concerned about how to rectify the current mess? When will the national standard of Electronic cigarette be introduced?
He Lin, Deputy Director of the Health Promotion and Publicity and Education Institute of Guizhou CDC, mentioned at the National Two Sessions that the current Electronic cigarette in the market include heating non burning, atomized smoke and other types, with more than 15000 flavors. There are currently no regulations on what has been added, how much has been added, and what has been produced, including the production process. There are no regulations on the safety of heating batteries, and manufacturers are each responsible for their own actions
Wu Yiqun, a researcher from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the reporter that at present, there is no research on what substances will be produced in the combustion and atomization of more than 15000 kinds of spices that may be added to Electronic cigarette and what impact they will have on the human body. It's scary to think about it. He can add anything to it at will
In Wu Yiqun's opinion, the worst problem at present is that Electronic cigarette lack basic product standards. It is said that it will be released by the end of 2019, but it has been over a year now and I haven't seen it. A product doesn't even have a product standard, how can we manage it
In October 2017, the National Standardization Administration issued the formulation plan for the national mandatory standard of 20171624-Q-456 Electronic cigarette. According to the plan, the standard is drafted by the China Tobacco, and the project cycle is 24 months. But to this day, the status of this national standard is still "under review" and has not yet been released. This standard is mainly drafted by institutions such as Shanghai New Tobacco Products Research Institute, China National Tobacco Corporation Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute, and China Tobacco Standardization Research Center.
In addition, a national recommended standard, 20171624-T-456 Determination of Nicotine, Propylene Glycol and Glycerol in Electronic cigarette Liquid Gas Chromatography, was also drafted by Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of China National Tobacco Corporation, Guangdong China Tobacco Industry Co., Ltd., etc. The national standard has entered the "approval in progress" stage, but according to the plan, it should end on December 15, 2018, and it is suspected that it has exceeded the development cycle.
The "difficult production" of the national standard makes Electronic cigarette practitioners anxious. As for the product standards of Electronic cigarette, Ou Junbiao, chairman of the Electronic cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, said that the Electronic cigarette Professional Committee of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce was updating the group standards of Electronic cigarette. The members of our association are executed according to our group standards
Chen Gulong also learned about the national standard of Electronic cigarette. In his opinion, the national standard still under development "has made requirements for more than 160 kinds of essence, spices, heating cells, batteries, etc. It is not difficult for the current mainstream companies to meet the standard".
Chen Gulong noticed that Electronic cigarette enterprises generally support supervision. In 2019, when the market supervision department required to ban online sales of Electronic cigarette, many manufacturers immediately expressed their support, but this time few enterprises voiced their support. According to his understanding, the Electronic cigarette industry association and many Electronic cigarette enterprises are holding meetings these days to discuss countermeasures, who should supervise and how to supervise.
Who Should Be in Charge of Electronic cigarette
Due to the characteristics of separating the cigarette oil and cigarette set, there has always been a dispute about what kind of product should be used for supervision of Electronic cigarette.
The China Tobacco actively advocates that it should be included in the tobacco management system. In China, tobacco is subject to the national monopoly system. The China Tobacco and the China National Tobacco Corporation work together to centralize and unify the management of "people, finance, materials, production, supply, marketing, domestic, foreign and trade" in the whole industry. In July 2020, the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau officially launched the "Electronic cigarette market special inspection action", and then interviewed 136 Electronic cigarette and Internet enterprises within two months.
Xie Jianping, president of China Tobacco Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute, published an article entitled "Electronic cigarette related technology and legal supervision" in 2014, which discussed the basis for bringing Electronic cigarette into tobacco monopoly management from the sources of nicotine in Electronic cigarette tobacco leaves, the similarity between Electronic cigarette and traditional cigarettes, etc.
At the same time, China Tobacco is also actively exploring the Electronic cigarette market. According to media reports, at the Shenzhen International Holdings International Electronic cigarette Industry Expo last August, Yunnan Zhongyan and Henan Zhongyan both produced their own heating and non burning products. In addition, Sichuan Jinshi Technology, a listed company in the supply chain of China Tobacco, has also completed its strategic investment in non JVE Electronic cigarette, holding 1.98% of its shares.
The domestic tobacco control community does not fully agree with this regulatory model. In Wu Yiqun's view, many tobacco control measures such as building a smoke-free environment and restricting tobacco advertising and promotion sponsorship have not fully played their due role. "It is not yet ready to sell cigarettes to minors. Can Electronic cigarette be managed well?"
Both the tobacco control industry and Electronic cigarette practitioners generally believe that the supervision of Electronic cigarette should involve multiple departments.
Zheng Rong, a professor at the School of International Economics and Trade at the University of International Business and Economics and the director of the World Health Organization's Center for Tobacco Control and Economic Policy Cooperation, believes that if international practices are followed, the health department should participate in regulation, as should industrial, commercial and other departments.
Mao Qun'an, head of the Department of Planning, Development and Information Technology of the National Health Commission, said in July 2019 that "the National Health Commission is carrying out research on the supervision of Electronic cigarette with relevant departments, and plans to supervise Electronic cigarette through legislation."
Ou Junbiao told reporters that with the tightening of regulatory policies, some Electronic cigarette enterprises will make low-temperature non combustible products, some will turn to medical atomization equipment, and some will make nicotine transmission devices or nicotine free toy products. This will bring more challenges to the supervision of Electronic cigarette in the future.
Wang Ke'an, the former director of Xintan Health Development Research Center, believes that the current regulatory mechanism for Electronic cigarette, a "new species", is still unclear. Many competent authorities, such as Industrial Information Technology, Health, Food and Drug Administration, can only supervise a part of it, and it is difficult to achieve full coverage of Electronic cigarette's entire industrial chain. If the China Tobacco and China Tobacco Corporation can separate the government from the enterprise in the future, then it will be "no problem" for the former to mainly supervise Electronic cigarette.
In Zheng Rong's opinion, the market scale of Electronic cigarette is already quite large, and the requirement for product quality is only the bottom line. If the supervision of Electronic cigarette should refer to cigarette management, Electronic cigarette should also comply with smoke-free legislation, warning packaging, prohibition of tobacco advertising and promotion and other relevant provisions according to the requirements of the World Health Organization in the future. She suggested that, considering that many Electronic cigarette can be separated from cigarette oil and cigarette sets, cigarette sets can be included in the regulation as ordinary commodities, and cigarette oil containing nicotine and other ingredients can be defined as tobacco products and included in the relevant regulatory system.