Chinese health authorities have banned producers of smoking
cessation products from advertising nicotine-containing products as
"harmless".
Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an said scientific studies
had proved nicotine was harmful and smoking cessation products
advertisements should not disregard scientific results and violate
state regulations.
Health authorities were drawing up regulations to better
administer these products and the ministry was working on new
measures for effectively monitoring these products, Mao said.
The move comes amid the controversy prompted by the manufacturer
of smoking cessation product Ruyan, which comprises a cigarette
pipe and "smoking balls". The company claimed its nicotine
replacement therapy (NRT), which incorporates more nicotine in its
product than an average cigarette, was harmless.
The manufacturer of Ruyan, Beijing SBT Technology and
Development Co. Ltd., said its products had been recommended by
World Health Organization (WHO), but this was denied by a WHO
official.
Ruyan came under fire after the Beijing Times reported that each
ball contained 18 milligrams of nicotine, far higher than the
average 1.2 milligrams in a cigarette.
Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, said, "Substitutes for cigarettes and other
tobacco products are only allowed to have a very low and restricted
nicotine content."
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has
already taken samples of Ruyan from the market for safety tests and
the results would be released by the end of 2006.
But Thursday's China Youth Daily said neither the
center nor the ministry had revealed the results.
(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2007)