In a joint document released last month, China’s National Health Bureau, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the domestic tobacco monopoly China Tobacco, and five other government entities, are urging the local government to set in place a vaping ban in order to curb teen vaping.
The document said that vaping “has shown a clear upward trend among the youth population,” adding that the composition of e-cigarette liquid and its second-hand smoke are “unsafe”. To this effect, add the agencies, China “must actively promote the prohibition of electronic smoking in public places”.
Misinformation informing policy
The lawmakers also inaccurately claimed that there is no evidence indicating that e-cigarettes are effective smoking cessation aids. “There is no conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes can help to effectively quit smoking.” This couldn’t be further from the truth, as there are countless peer reviewed studies indicating the contrary.
Meanwhile, a statement released in October by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and State Administration for Market Regulation, has announced that all websites and apps selling e-cigarettes will be shut down and all online e-cig marketing campaigns will be halted.
EVALI panic
This measure, along with the intention of banning vaping in public, come in response to all the panic surrounding vaping products as a result of the EVALI outbreak in the US. Last September, Juul products were taken off Chinese e-commerce sites Tmall and JD.com, only after being launched days before.
Read Further: Yahoo News
