The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing testing methods for 27 additives set to be banned from flavored cigarettes, Health Promotion Administration (HPA) Director-General Shen Ching-fen (沈靜芬) said on Thursday.
The HPA in March announced that 27 additives would be prohibited under amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法).
Shen said the FDA is formulating detection methods that would be implemented once post-market management mechanisms are fully in place.
Warning: Smoking can damage your health. Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
These methods would apply to traditional and electronic cigarettes, she said.
Teenagers are especially vulnerable to nicotine addiction and more likely to become habitual smokers, Shen said.
Long-term smoking increases the risk of cancer and causes severe lung damage, while in the short term it weakens immunity, making people more susceptible to colds, while reducing athletic performance and post-exercise recovery, she said.
Shen urged teenagers to relieve stress through outdoor activities instead of turning to addictive substances such as cigarettes.
She also said 14 flavored cigarette products that have received conditional approval from the HPA would soon reach the market.
All other flavored cigarette products remain illegal and cannot be sold, she added.
Cigarette products of any kind are prohibited from being advertised at gatherings, tea parties, information sessions, through live-streaming, unboxing videos and user experience sharing, Shen said, calling on the public to comply with the law.
The HPA has initiated online and on-site inspection projects in collaboration with local public health bureaus and would soon conduct intensive checks of physical cigarette shops in response to the upcoming sale of flavored cigarettes, she said.
Inspections would focus on whether physical stores are selling cigarettes to minors, while authorities would also clamp down on illegal online advertising, transactions or user experience sharing, she added.
Evidence of any contraventions would be forwarded to local public health authorities for investigation and penalties, she said.
When drafting the prohibition on flavored cigarettes, the HPA initially considered a ban based on “flavors,” but it later realized that such a standard would complicate testing procedures, she said.
Therefore, the proposal was revised to focus on the ingredients used in flavored cigarettes, with 27 specific additives listed in the second announcement of the draft ban, she added.
HPA Tobacco Control Division head Lo Su-ying (羅素英) said the flavored cigarette ban continued to draw public attention following the second announcement, adding that the agency would consider supplementary measures to enhance oversight.
The implementation of the ban would depend on the development of testing capacity and regulatory mechanisms, Lo said, adding that related regulations are expected to be finalized and announced next year.
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