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 While long-term health impacts from vaping remain largely unknown,
e-cigarettes were viewed as a healthier alternative that could help
users quit smoking when they were first launched a few years ago.
But countries around the world have been pulling electronic
cigarette products from markets and restricting advertising as
vaping faces increased scrutiny.
"The current situation is considered as a serious risk to public
health," South Korea's health minister Park Neung-hoo told a
briefing, citing cases of lung injuries associated with e-cigarette
use in the United States.
U.S. health officials have so far reported 33 deaths and 1,479
confirmed and probable cases from a mysterious respiratory illness
tied to vaping.
A pneumonia case of a 30-year old South Korean e-cigarette user was
reported this month, the health ministry said.
"Children, juveniles, pregnant women, and people with pulmonary
diseases, never use liquid e-cigarettes. Non-smokers, too, never use
liquid e-cigarettes from now," Park said.
Park said the government would speed up its own studies to determine
if there was a scientific basis to ban sales of liquid e-cigarettes,
which vaporize liquid containing nicotine.
A rival technology, which heats but does not burn tobacco, has been
authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has
avoided much of the recent regulatory crackdown globally.
REGULATORY CRACKDOWN
South Korea's health ministry vowed to tighten regulations on vaping
products such as strengthening customs procedures for imported
liquid of e-cigarettes.
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The South Korean office of U.S. e-cigarette maker Juul Labs said in
a statement their products did not contain THC, the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana, or vitamin E acetate, a substance used in
some THC products. Those substances have been linked to
e-cigarette-related lung illnesses in the United States.
Juul, 35% owned by Altria Group Inc, began selling its devices in
South Korea in May.
KT&G Corp, a South Korean tobacco maker which sells Lil Vapor
e-cigarettes, said it would cooperate with the government's policies
after results of the ongoing probe came out.
Since smoking was banned indoors at places like restaurants and
cafés in 2015, South Korea become less tolerant of smokers. But
e-cigarettes have been gaining popularity in the country's $16
billion tobacco market since 2017.
E-cigarettes accounted for 13% of South Korea's tobacco market by
sales as of June, according to government data.
South Korea is the world's No.2 market of heated vape products after
Japan, worth $1.7 billion, according to Euromonitor, but liquid
e-cigarettes are less popular.
The United States has already announced plans to remove flavored
e-cigarettes from stores, citing alarming growth in teenage use of
the products
India also discontinued the sale of e-cigarettes in September,
warning of an "epidemic" among young people.
(Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Ju-min Park and Lincoln Feast)
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