The coming 31st is World No Tobacco Day, which was set by the World Health Organization (WHO). This year’s theme is “Protecting children from Tobacco Industry Interference.” The message is to urge governments to take protective measures in response to predatory marketing and regulatory policy interference strategies in the tobacco and nicotine industries that are exposed to children and adolescents without defense.
Tobacco companies have long been focusing on strategies to attract future generations to new smokers. Recently, the tobacco companies are targeting children, adolescents, young adults, and women with new types of cigarettes, including liquid and cigarette electronic cigarettes with pretty and sophisticated designs and flavored products with various flavors and scents. In particular, sales of flavored cigarettes have exploded over the past 10 years. The plan is to make the younger generation a “persistent smoker” by making it easier to gateway smoking and increasing nicotine addiction. For this reason, many countries overseas are tightening regulations on flavored cigarettes, but the situation is far from that of Korea. An advanced trick and trick to avoid flavored cigarettes is also continuing to emerge. 85 percent of smokers aged 13 to 18 “smokers smoke flavored cigarettes” According to the Health and Welfare Ministry’s “2023 Tobacco Market Analysis and Use Survey” study on Tuesday, sales of flavored cigarettes reached 1.63 billion packs in 2022, up 3.9 times from 420 packs in 2013. The ratio of flavored cigarettes in total cigarette sales rose sharply from 9.8 percent in 2013 to 44 percent in 2022. The number of so-called “capsule cigarettes,” in which small capsules containing flavored substances are inserted into a mouthwatering filter, increased 6.5 times from 210,000 packs to 1.36 billion packs during the same period (4.8% → 36.8% of the cigarettes). On the other hand, cigarettes decreased from 3.89 billion packs to 2.07 billion packs (90.2% → 56%) during the same period. A variety of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, fruit flavors, spices, herbs, alcohol, sweetness, and flower scents, are being sold all over the world. Menthol cigarettes have a unique pleasant taste and soft throat, which is the most widely used scent. Menthol cigarettes account for about 10 percent of the global tobacco market. According to an analysis of additives in the beginning of the year on 60 cigarettes sold in Korea in 2017, at least two to a maximum 28 flavored tobacco products, including menthol and isomenton (maccented), theobromine (coa flavor), and vanillin (vanilla scent), were detected. In addition, a survey on the ingredients of capsules included in the 29 types of capsule cigarettes on the market revealed 128 flavored substances. The number of smokers of flavored tobacco among young people, including teenagers, is on the rise by more than 10 percent compared to the past.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
