What e-cigarette enterprises must do is to formally shoulder their social responsibility

“Big coffee” gathered, e-cigarette business is surging. In the reality of more and more intensive commercial layout, how to protect the public interest and public health?

In Shenzhen, there are not a few enterprises specializing in the production and marketing of e-cigarettes. According to the data provided by the electronic cigarette industry committee of China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, more than 90% of the world’s electronic cigarettes are produced in and around Shenzhen.

From “workshop” production to group operation, to Internet entrepreneurship and deer chasing capital market, with the gradual maturity of the industrial chain, e-cigarette industry has developed rapidly.

What is the status of China in the research and development of e-cigarette technology?

“As of August 2018, the number of global e-cigarettes patents totaled 25979, with 22825 in China, accounting for nearly 87.9%.” Ao Weinuo, Secretary General of the electronic cigarette industry committee of China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, said that in the new type of tobacco products, a number of core invention patents of heating tobacco products are currently held by American tobacco giant Philip Morris International and British tobacco giant British American Tobacco; while the main and high-quality patents of atomized electronic cigarettes, which currently occupy the mainstream of the market, are in the hands of Chinese enterprises.

The reporter inquired the wind database of financial data service provider and the Research Report of Beijing HanKun law firm, and found that at present there are at least 12 listed and listed companies involved in the e-cigarette industry in China, including 7 A-share listed companies, 2 Hong Kong listed companies and 3 new three board listed companies.

Strong market demand, but also to attract traditional tobacco enterprises “into the Bureau.”. Some local tobacco companies in China have set up new tobacco business departments to try to enter the e-cigarette market.

The growing e-cigarette supply chain serves the explosive growth of the global consumer market.

According to the 2018 World Tobacco Development Report issued by the Institute of tobacco economy of the state tobacco monopoly administration, the global sales of e-cigarettes in 2018 was about US $14.52 billion, a year-on-year increase of 27%, more than 10 times higher than that in 2010; in 2018, the number of consumers of new tobacco products (including heating tobacco products and fogging e-cigarettes) is estimated to be more than 40 million, which is expected to grow to 64 million people by 2020.

Compared with the global cigarette sales of more than 540 billion US dollars, the sales volume of e-cigarettes is not large. However, compared with the annual decline rate of cigarettes, the growth rate of e-cigarettes is very considerable.

The United States is the world’s largest consumer market for e-cigarettes. In 2018, the sales volume of e-cigarettes in the United States was $5.6 billion, an increase of 20.5% year-on-year, followed by the UK market, with sales volume of $2.43 billion, an increase of 36.6% year-on-year. Italy, Germany, France and other countries are also big consumers of e-cigarettes.

The huge e-cigarette market leads to the fierce competition of capital. Major tobacco giants, such as Atria, British American Tobacco and imperial brand companies, have entered the e-cigarette market through the acquisition of e-cigarette enterprises or research and development of new products. In addition, there are many cases of “cross-border” brands in automobile, medicine and other industries.

At the same time of capital battle, the changeable regulatory policies all over the world make the uncertainty of e-cigarette industry more serious.

On June 25, San Francisco city officials approved a law banning the sale of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine or other devices not approved by the U.S. Food and drug administration, making it the first city in the United States to ban electronic cigarettes.

Canada, Japan, Brazil, India The “policy dark cloud” of “electronic cigarette ban” hovers over many countries and regions. According to the survey conducted by the electronic cigarette industry committee of China Electronic Chamber of Commerce in 2018, more than 50% of Chinese enterprises have slowed down their R & D investment and development pace due to fear of policy risks.

At present, the domestic e-cigarette industry is waiting for the introduction of national regulatory policies. Some insiders believe that the first thing e-cigarette enterprises need to do is to face up to their social responsibilities.

“Now there are many practitioners in the electronic cigarette industry, and the quality of products varies from good to bad.” “Before the relevant national standards and regulatory policies come out, we call on peers to do a good job in self-discipline, to ensure product quality, not to make false propaganda, not to promote and sell e-cigarettes to teenagers,” said the head of an e-cigarette enterprise in Shenzhen.

Xu Xiao xin, an associate professor at the school of social development and public policy of Beijing Normal University, pointed out that the realization of the balance between industrial development and public health requires joint efforts of many parties.

“The government should play a role in establishing a regulatory framework in terms of age limit, advertising promotion, product standards, risk warning and other aspects to improve the implementation capacity; the e-cigarette industry should practice corporate social responsibility; the academic community should strengthen scientific research on the health impact of e-cigarettes; the public health community and the education community should work together to strengthen the health education for young people.” “In this way, we can help achieve a healthy China together,”  Xu said “We commend congress for its efforts to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21, and urge the president to sign the bill,” Tony Abboud, President of the VTA, said in an email statement. The steam Technology Association advocates raising the age of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to 21 and believes that, together with public health groups, this is the most important step in reducing access and use by young people.