The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration jointly issued a document stating that various market entities shall not sell e-cigarettes to minors, sell e-cigarettes through the Internet, and publish
E-Cigarette advertisements through the Internet.
"We hope that the domestic government can better implement the regulation of prohibiting the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, and all non-smoking places should also prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes, but there should be more objective evaluation of the health damage of electronic cigarettes."
"From the WHO's principled standpoint, no matter what is added to e-cigarettes, we require strict prohibition. Member States need to strictly control e-cigarettes, including traditional tobacco products."
At the Beijing International
Electronic Cigarette Exhibition, electronic cigarette experts performed "fancy smoke puffing ring", which made many young people feel cool. (IC Photo/Figure)
The electronic cigarette, which was the biggest wind in the venture capital circle in 2019, failed to catch on this winter after all.
On November 1, 2019, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration jointly issued the Notice on Further Protection of Minors from Electronic Cigarettes (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which clearly stated that electronic cigarettes should not be sold to minors, electronic cigarettes should not be sold through the Internet, and electronic cigarette advertisements should not be published through the Internet.
Compared with the request of the two departments to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors in August 2018, the new regulation of "no online sale" issued on the eve of the Double 11 Shopping Festival undoubtedly poured cold water on the controversial e-cigarette industry.
According to the statistics of a vertical media in the field of e-cigarette, in the first half of 2019, there were more than 35 investment cases in the e-cigarette industry, with a total investment of more than 1 billion yuan, including Luo Yonghao's "Ono" e-cigarette. On the same day of 618 alone, 386000 products were sold by the top ten brands on one platform of JD.
Off-shelf electronic cigarette of the whole network
Domestic e-cigarettes are mainly sold online, and e-commerce platforms, social platforms, live broadcast platforms and external sales websites of e-cigarettes enterprises are the main channels of e-cigarettes sales.
Shortly after the announcement was issued on the afternoon of November 1, a reporter from Southern Weekend searched the Jingdong Mall with the keyword "e-cigarette", and still found more than 230000 items for sale. The keyword search results on Taobao were also more than 100 pages. Many products were hung with discount and promotion information related to the Double 11 Shopping Festival. The most popular e-cigarette of Yueke brand was sold, with the "entry price for new comers" of 289 yuan, and more than 40000 people paid.
However, more than ten minutes later, the relevant page of the product was deleted, and Yueke official also released a message saying that "we firmly support and implement the online ban decision on e-cigarettes and do not serve minors". To use the current popular phrase to describe, these e-cigarette products that are quickly off the shelf are also very strong in their desire to survive.
The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration said that many e-cigarettes enterprises, in order to blindly pursue economic interests, put the key target of Internet marketing on the customer group of young people, and labeled e-cigarettes as the representative of "young", "fashionable" and "trendy", and publicized, promoted and sold e-cigarettes. Most of the minors learned about e-cigarettes through the Internet, bought and began to smoke e-cigarettes through e-commerce platforms.
Therefore, the Notice requires that all kinds of market entities shall not sell electronic cigarettes to minors; Urge the e-cigarette production and sales enterprises or individuals to close the e-cigarette internet sales website or client in time, the e-commerce platform to close the e-cigarette stores in time and remove the e-cigarette products from the shelves in time, and the e-cigarette production and sales enterprises or individuals to withdraw the e-cigarette advertisements published through the internet.
Marketing "routine" young people
"After hearing that it can help to quit smoking, I also tried to smoke electronic cigarettes, but it is difficult to smoke." Southern Weekend reporter interviewed many smokers who have been smoking for more than five years. Almost all of them have heard of electronic cigarettes, but their acceptance is not high. It is believed that the main reason is its poor taste, inability to obtain satisfaction, and suspected quality and safety problems.
The official of the National Tobacco Monopoly Administration said that electronic cigarette is a special tobacco product, which is generally composed of cigarette oil and cigarette sets. Tobacco oil is mainly made of nicotine (nicotine), and the nicotine and various additives are atomized by electronic cigarette sets for consumers to smoke.
In May 2019, the 2018 China Adult Tobacco Survey Report released by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 5% of adults had used e-cigarettes, 2.2% of adults had used e-cigarettes in the past 12 months, and now the proportion is 0.9%. According to this calculation, the number of people aged 15 and above who use electronic cigarettes in China is 10.35 million. The use proportion of young people is relatively high, with the highest in the 15-24 age group (1.5%).
The report shows that although the use rate of e-cigarettes in China is still at a low level, the proportion of people who have heard of e-cigarettes and who have used e-cigarettes has increased compared with 2015, and the proportion of people who have used e-cigarettes has nearly doubled.
"In order to bring such a special product to consumers' eyes, the brand side used many tricks, which made people have a fashionable and young impression on e-cigarettes, which is in line with the masses of e-cigarettes." At the e-cigarettes industry trend forum organized by an e-commerce platform in Shanghai on October 31, Zhuang Jianzhong, the founder of Meinian Changxiao, who has provided management consulting services for the Chinese tobacco industry for a long time, said.
In Shanghai Steam Culture Week, the method of celebrity endorsement was transplanted to the electronic cigarette market (Shen Shuyi, intern at the Southern Weekend/photo)
At the forum site, the Southern Weekend reporter saw a number of promotional poster photos taken at the city corner - a large cloud of smoke around the model, showing the texture and dressing taste. The endorsement of the famous Hong Kong star Edison Chen and other spokesmen is creating a fashionable and rebellious positioning for e-cigarettes.
While electronic cigarette enterprises focus on young consumers, they also use the concepts of "helping to quit smoking" and "healthy and harmless" to come from me.
However, the above-mentioned two departments pointed out in the Notice that most electronic cigarettes are highly random in the selection of raw materials, use of additives, process design, quality control and other aspects, and there are serious quality and safety risks such as unsafe ingredient addition, smoke oil leakage, and inferior batteries. In particular, in order to improve the attractiveness of the products, some e-cigarette enterprises randomly add various additives to change the taste of e-cigarettes and the color of the oil, and the product quality is uneven. There is a strong investment impulse in the capital market, and the rush to pursue huge profits has further exacerbated the disorderly development of the electronic cigarette market, which has caused serious harm to the physical and mental health of consumers, especially minors.
The national standard of electronic cigarettes is pending
"There is more and more evidence that electronic cigarettes are also very harmful to health, no less than traditional tobacco products. We see that more and more national and local governments have begun to restrict the sale of electronic cigarettes, which is right. China is now concerned that electronic cigarettes are not easy, (indicating) health awareness is indeed improving." On October 30, 2019, WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Ren Minghui told reporters at the Southern Weekend.
According to the latest data of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 37 people have died of diseases related to electronic cigarettes in the United States, and more than 1800 people have suffered lung damage due to the use of electronic cigarette products. Among them, 14% of patients are younger than 18 years old, and 79% of patients are younger than 35 years old. CDC said that most patients had used electronic cigarette products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) before symptoms occurred.
Up to now, more than 40 countries or regions, such as Brazil, Singapore and India, have made explicit legislation or officially announced the ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes. In addition, more than 60 countries and regions, including the United States, the world's largest consumer of e-cigarettes, and the European Union, strictly control e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
Jiang Yuan, the vice president of the China Tobacco Control Association, told the Southern Weekend reporter that she hoped that the regulations prohibiting the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors would be better implemented in China, and that the use of electronic cigarettes should also be banned in all non-smoking places, but there should be more objective evaluation of the health damage of electronic cigarettes.
"The United States CDC's statement on the harm of electronic cigarettes is that electronic cigarettes are not safe, but compared with ordinary cigarettes, the harm of electronic cigarettes is low, and there is also more and more evidence that electronic cigarettes can help smokers quit smoking. We should invest more funds to strengthen the research and monitoring of electronic cigarettes." Jiang Yuan believes that the management of electronic cigarettes is a very complex problem, and it should be prohibited to add flavor to electronic cigarettes, Consider e-cigarettes that retain only mint and tobacco flavor.
According to the information on the official website of the National Standards Commission, the national standard for electronic cigarettes, which is considered by the industry to be about to end the brutal growth of electronic cigarettes, has been formulated and is currently in the process of "being approved". A draft shows that there are more than 400 flavor additives to be approved for use, including coffee, lemon, etc. The Tobacco Corporation replied to the Southern Weekend reporter that at present, it is not certain when the national standard will be officially announced.
"From the WHO's principled standpoint, no matter what is added to e-cigarettes, whether there is nicotine or what flavor is added, we require strict prohibition. Member States need to strictly control e-cigarettes, including traditional tobacco products," Ren Minghui said.
Jiang Yuan also suggested that neutral departments should formulate policies to strengthen the supervision of electronic cigarettes.
