Gov't strongly warns against using liquid e-cigarettes

Health Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks about recommendation not to use liquid e-cigarettes due to possible health threats, during a press briefing at the Government Complex Seoul, Wednesday. /Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

The government issued a strong recommendation Wednesday advising people to stop using liquid e-cigarettes until the effects of “vaping” products on the human body have been fully confirmed. This follows growing reports over their hazards to health.

It plans to order the manufacturers and importers of liquid products for e-cigarettes to submit a list of ingredients used and will conduct studies on these to find a link between them and lung damage.

The recommendation follows an advisory issued by the administration last month telling people to limit their use of the products.

“The ministry strongly recommends people to stop using liquid-type e-cigarettes until their links to illnesses are clearly identified, as a number of serious unidentified lung diseases and deaths have been reported in the United States. A suspected case has also been reported here in Korea,” Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said during a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul.

“The related government authorities will make efforts to set up the legal grounds to strengthen rules and regulations for e-cigarettes before the end of the year.”

The government said pregnant women, teenagers and people with respiratory diseases should never use these types of e-cigarettes. It added that teenagers using them need to stop immediately, as the flavored liquid products especially target young people who are more vulnerable to nicotine poisoning.

People who use, or have used, the vaping e-cigarettes experiencing persistent coughs, nausea, vomiting, fever and fatigue, or difficulty in breathing should immediately stop using them and seek medical attention, it said.

Park cited cases of serious lung damage related to vaping in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there has warned against using these e-cigarettes as nearly 1,500 cases of serious lung damage and 33 deaths allegedly associated with vaping have been reported in the country up to Oct. 15.

A suspected case of vaping-related respiratory illness was also reported here. The health ministry said that a man in his 30s, who switched from combustible cigarettes to e-cigarettes about six months ago, began suffering from respiratory distress and had to be admitted to hospital, Oct. 2.

To set the legal grounds for strengthening regulations on e-cigarettes, the health ministry will broaden the definition of the tobacco used, from that made from the leafs of the tobacco plant to other nicotine-containing products made from the plant's stem and roots.

Cigarette manufacturers and importers will be also obliged to report all the ingredients of their products including those in the exhaled smoke. The sales of flavored vaping liquids will also be phased out, according to the ministry.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will also carry out toxicity tests on seven ingredients, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), through November in order to set the legal basis for a recall or sales ban on hazardous products.

THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects, and 78 percent of the people reporting serious lung damage from vaping in the U.S. had used e-cigarettes with liquid THC, according to the U.S. and Korean health authorities.