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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Chinese authorities stumped by controversial smoking cessation product
Dec 4, 2006, 17:13
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A product to help China's hard core smokers kick the habit has raised questions over the safety and classification of cigarette replacement treatments. Authorities have been stumped by the popular "Ruyan" - Chinese for "cigarette like" - nicotine pipe and come under media fire for failing to regulate its sale. Ruyan has raked in more than 1 billion yuan in domestic sales in the past year, but its unusual profile means that government tobacco, drugs and dangerous chemicals watchdogs do not know how to classify it. It carries a certificate proving that the production process meets hygiene standards, but has never been officially tested for effectiveness. At a press conference Saturday, the manufacturer produced a ream of safety and hygiene certificates granted by local inspection agencies and foreign medical institutions. But concerns about the safety and toxicity of the product have prompted the Ministry of Health to ask the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out more authoritative tests. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, which oversees China's tobacco industry, passed the buck to the country's safety watchdog, saying nicotine was classified as a dangerous chemical. However, the State Administration of Work Safety told Xinhua that it only dealt with the production and transport of dangerous chemicals, and had no remit over the the use of those chemicals. To make the picture even more confused, Ruyan falls under none of the subject categories supervised by the State Food and Drug Administration. Ruyan consists of a stainless steel pipe, a lithium ion battery, micro-electronic circuit, an atomizing chamber, an indicator light and a nicotine-rich "smoking ball". When smokers draw on the pipe, the "smoking balls" are aerosolized and nicotine is inhaled. The Beijing Times has questioned the product's safety, pointing out that it contains 18 milligrams of nicotine per ball, far higher than the average 1.2 milligrams in a cigarette. Experts have different opinions about the harm done by nicotine. "Nicotine is simply addictive. It's the carbon monoxide and tar produced by smoking cigarettes that cause disease," the Science and Technology Daily quoted Zhang Yifang, an expert with the Chinese Association of Smoking and Health, as saying at Saturday's press conference. "Although nicotine is not carcinogenic, it can quicken the growth of cancers and trigger heart diseases, arteriosclerosis and strokes," Liu Yunqing, a professor with the school of basic medical sciences of Zhengzhou University in central China's Henan Province, told Chengdu Business newspaper. "I use Ruyan as a substitute for tobacco, because it has fewer harmful substances, that way I can go on 'smoking'," a consumer surnamed Qi told Xinhua. Ruyan's ambiguous profile has raised concerns about the legitimacy of its advertisements, with the government banning all tobacco ads and requiring approval for medical ads. The Ruyan ads underwent no government scrutiny prior to release, because the product is classified neither as tobacco, nor as a drug or healthcare product, Xinhua learned from the Advertising Department of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. The confusion is likely to last till the end of the year, when the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will release results of safety and toxicity tests on Ruyan samples. China has more than 350 million smokers, about a third of the world's smoking population. Each year, about 700,000 die from smoking-related diseases. With the government encouraging the development of new tobacco control products, special regulations should be drawn up in June, said Zhang Bin, vice director of the Ministry of Health department responsible for maternity, child and community health.
© Copyright 2006 by CigarettesOn.Com
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