Keep Vaping Devices Away from Students

“How can anyone sell e-cigarettes to elementary school students?” Recently, some parents reported that a toy shop next to Beihai Experimental School in Beihai, Guangxi, was openly selling e-cigarettes to students, raising serious concerns. Reporters found that similar situations exist near multiple local schools, and many of these e-cigarettes are “three-no” products with no brand name, no quality certification, and no manufacturer information. Relevant authorities said they will investigate the matter.

E-cigarettes, also known as electronic cigarettes, are mainly used for smoking cessation and as a substitute for traditional cigarettes. They look like cigarettes and can also produce vapor, flavor, and a smoking-like sensation. Although most manufacturers claim that e-cigarettes do not contain harmful substances such as tar and suspended particles found in cigarettes, some studies suggest that e-cigarettes still contain harmful substances. Because e-cigarettes have long lacked support from systematic clinical trial data, some countries consider them illegal. In particular, the e-cigarettes sold to students are often “three-no” products, making them even more hazardous.

E-cigarettes may also encourage students to start smoking. Foreign studies have found that 44% of non-smoking teenagers who had tried e-cigarettes said they intended to try traditional cigarettes the following year. Among non-smoking teenagers who had never tried e-cigarettes, only 22% said they would try traditional cigarettes.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control clearly stipulates that “the production and sale of candies, snacks, toys, or any other physical objects in forms attractive to minors as tobacco products shall be prohibited.” Since these are prohibited goods, why are some shops still selling e-cigarettes to students? One important reason is that some merchants lack social conscience and are driven purely by profit. This problem is highly persistent. For example, there have long been clear regulations prohibiting the opening of internet cafés, video game arcades, dance halls, adult product shops, saunas, and similar businesses within 200 meters of schools, yet some businesses still violate the rules for profit. This shows that cleaning up the environment around schools is a long-term task that must not be neglected.

Another important reason e-cigarettes are harming students is that regulation has not kept pace. Selling an adult smoking-cessation product to students as if it were a toy is a relatively new problem. Relevant departments are often slow to respond to new issues. “Current regulations do not clearly specify whether e-cigarettes are food or drugs, so e-cigarette products do not fall within the scope of food and drug regulation,” a staff member from the Beihai Food and Drug Administration said. A person in charge surnamed Dong from the Beihai Tobacco Bureau also said that e-cigarettes only resemble traditional cigarettes in appearance and do not contain tobacco material; “they should contain essential oils inside, but this would need to be identified.” Some departments, when faced with a problem, think first about distancing themselves from responsibility instead of how to take responsibility quickly. As a result, some issues fall into areas where multiple departments could intervene, yet none takes the lead, allowing the harm to worsen.

The repeated appearance of products harmful to students calls for comprehensive governance from the perspective of cleaning up the environment around schools and protecting students’ healthy development. Otherwise, if authorities simply treat each symptom as it appears, even if e-cigarettes are dealt with, other harmful products will continue to emerge.

These goods are sold through shops, so addressing harmful products at the source requires improving the moral standards of shop owners. Strengthening civic morality education may not produce immediate results, but with persistence it will be effective, leading more and more shop owners to develop a sense of social responsibility and refuse to sell products harmful to students.

Regulation is an important line of defense in preventing harmful products from endangering students. Relevant departments should strengthen their sense of responsibility, crack down on harmful products as soon as they appear, investigate them early, and resolve problems before they escalate. Where inaction or slow action causes harm, those responsible should be held accountable, pushing the relevant departments to fully perform their duties, keeping e-cigarettes away from campuses, and creating a healthy environment for students’ growth.