China plans to regulate e-cigarette production, sales, use
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At the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in March 2015, a spokesperson for China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission stated that the Commission will coordinate with related agencies and lobby for regulations. The spokesperson said product targets youth with appealing flavors. The spokesperson stated:
“E-cigarettes have rapidly become popular across the world. China will act … to protect people, particularly as the nation has reached a crucial stage for tobacco control in general.”
Li Baojiang, deputy director of the Economic Research Institute at the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, has said that work has started on the research and development of e-cigarette patents and brand names.
Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said, “They will attract young people to smoking, and I recommend that national governments abandon or at least regulate them.” Suggestions by the WHO on e-cigarettes include preventing their use among nonsmokers, particularly the young, prohibiting unproven health claims, and banning or restricting advertising and promotion.
The article noted that Vivek Murthy, the United States’ surgeon general, said he is concerned about e-cigarettes and “this is an area where we are in desperate need of clarity”.