E-Cigarette Use Rises Among Colombian Secondary School Students, Government Fines BAT and Others 1.4

One in five students in grades 7 to 11 in Colombia has used e-cigarettes, and the government has imposed fines totaling 1.496 billion Colombian pesos.

According to Eluniversal, the 2022 National Study on Psychoactive Substance Use Among Secondary School Students showed that one in five secondary school students in grades 7 through 11 in Colombia, aged 12 to 18, has used e-cigarettes. 

In response, Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce fined British American Tobacco Colombia, Lifetech, and the DYI Group more than 1.496 billion Colombian pesos (about RMB 2.64 million) because their e-cigarette packaging and advertising did not clearly state that the products are harmful to health. Some products also failed to provide information in Spanish.