Smoking in China
In China, smoking and the sale of cigarettes is legally allowed, and they can be purchased online, but buying them from vending machines is not permitted. Importing cigarettes for trade is allowed with a license. However, there is a complete ban on all tobacco advertising, and health warnings on cigarette packaging are required. The minimum legal age for purchasing cigarettes is 18 years, and there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places as well. Cigarettes are subject to a total taxation rate of 52% with a specific excise component of 0.98%. As of 2024, China had an estimated 288.3 million current adult smokers, with an adult smoking prevalence of 24.4%. Among males, the smoking prevalence was 46.4%, and among females, it was only 1.9%. The number of daily smokers was approximately 256.9 million, with an adult daily smoking prevalence of 20.3%—38.6% among males and 1.3% among females. According to 2021 data, tobacco smoking caused about 2.7 million deaths in China—2.2 million among males and 490,700 among females. This presents that smoking accounted for 22.78% of all deaths in the country, including 31.81% of male deaths and 10.11% of female deaths.
Read articles from China
June 02, 2021 by filtermag.org
Will China Bring Vapes Under the Country’s Tobacco Monopoly?
At the end of March, China said that it would soon regulate vaping products like cigarettes. That means nicotine vapes would fall under the control of the country’s tobacco monopoly—a development with huge implications in China and potentially the rest of the world. The nation produces roughly 90 percent of the planet’s e-cigarettes. In China, the government and Big Tobacco are one and the same. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and China National Tobacco Corporation [...] is both the agency in charge of tobacco regulation and the manufacturer of tobacco products. [...]
May 31, 2021 by globaltimes.cn
Ample evidence that e-cigarettes are unsafe and pose a health risk: smoking report
Experts' warning over e-cigarettes and their related health risks for those people looking for their first "puff" escalated as the 34th World No Tobacco Day fell on Monday.
China's National Health Commission devoted an entire chapter to e-cigarettes in its latest report on smoking for the first time and stressed in the opening that "there is ample evidence that e-cigarettes are unsafe and pose a health risk." According to the China Report on the Health Hazards of Smoking 2020, over 1 million people die of tobacco-related diseases in China every year. [...]
May 11, 2021 by reuters.com
China moves to regulate all synthetic cannabinoids
China will become the world’s first country to regulate all synthetic cannabinoid substances, in a bid to get ahead of new variations whose chemical properties are not yet subject to regulation, the country’s drugs control office said on Tuesday.
Synthetic cannabinoids are lab-made drugs originally designed to produce similar effects to cannabis, but which are often far stronger and carry a greater health risk, Deng Ming, deputy director of China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, said at a briefing.
April 30, 2021 by focustaiwan.tw
New Taipei becomes first city in Taiwan to ban sale of e-cigarettes
New Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Legislation banning the sale of e-cigarettes in New Taipei City cleared the city council Thursday, making it the first of Taiwan's six special municipalities to ban the sale of vaping products.
The New Taipei ordinance on the management of novel tobacco products prohibits the manufacture, importation, sale, display or advertising of vaping devices and heated tobacco products and components unless one has a government drug or medical device permit to do so.
April 19, 2021 by cgtn.com
China to tighten rules on regulating e-cigarettes
For the first time, e-cigarettes have been placed under specialized legal supervision as Chinese regulators set to enhance regulations of the growing industry.
In a draft amendment to China's Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Tobacco Patent Sales Law, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration proposed bringing e-cigarettes in line with current regulations for tobacco products.
It said vaping products, like e-cigarettes, share core similarities as traditional tobacco products in its nature and way of consumption.
April 02, 2021 by filtermag.org
What It’s Like to Be a Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocate in Taiwan
Vaping captures headlines in the United States, where outcry over a perceived youth “epidemic” drives health misinformation and efforts to restrict products that could save smokers’ lives—with international implications.
But tobacco harm reduction’s most important battleground, where more than half of the world’s smokers live, is Asia. The continent is home to a diverse range of nicotine policies, ranging from innovative approaches that the world should watch to harsh prohibitions.
December 10, 2020 by taipeitimes.com
Doctor urges avoiding e-cigarettes after treating teen
A Taichung doctor has urged people not to use e-cigarettes, after treating a 15-year-old boy who developed severe pneumonia after using the devices for four years. E-cigarettes, which use oil containing nicotine and various chemicals that make them addictive, cannot be used as a means of breaking an addiction to smoking tobacco products, Lu said.
“They also impact the development of a child’s brain and can lead to cancer,” he said, adding that the government should do more to restrict e-cigarette use among youth.
December 02, 2020 by taiwannews.com.tw
Taiwanese teenager diagnosed with pneumonia linked to vaping
A 15-year-old Taiwanese teenager was diagnosed with pneumonia in September after developing a habit of smoking electronic cigarettes four years ago.
The Chung Shan Medical University (CSMU) Hospital said Tuesday (Dec. 1) that it had treated a young patient in September after he experienced symptoms of coughing, shortness of breath, epigastralgia, and nausea. It said an MRI scan of the boy's lungs showed that he was suffering from bilateral pneumonia, which can seriously inflame and scar a person's lungs.
December 01, 2020 by thelancet.com
E-cigarette use among adults in China: findings from repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2015–16 and 2018–19
The use of e-cigarettes among adults is increasing globally. Since 2018, policies in China have restricted e-cigarette use; however, little information is available on the national trend in e-cigarette use before regulations were implemented. Therefore, we sought to estimate the trend in e-cigarette use in China before policy implementation and explored associated factors.
Methods
We assessed two nationally representative cross-sectional datasets from the China Chronic Disease and Nutrition Surveillance (CCDNS) surveys initiated in 2015 (June, 2015, to May, 2016) and 2018 (August, 2018, to June, 2019).
November 30, 2020 by vapingdaily.com
E-Cigarette and New Tobacco Flavor Ban Possible For Taiwan
Taiwan is considering banning flavored e-cigarettes and new tobacco products like heat-not-burn sticks. Health authorities are considering the flavor ban as a way to curb the rise in vaping and smoking rates in young people.
The Health Promotion Administration [...] had earlier proposed a complete ban on e-cigarettes in the country. That motion was not adopted by the government.
Now, public health officials are proposing a half-measure that would ban flavored vapor products as a way to dissuade people, especially, young people from vaping or using heat-not-burn products like PMI’s IQOS.