abstract ： As a new outlet, electronic cigarettes, against the background of blind pursuit of profits by capital and temporary lack of supervision, have brought about brutal growth of the industry in the pattern of "thousand cigarettes war". In view of the market chaos, since August, People's Daily Online has organized a series of reports, "Five Questions about Electronic Cigarettes" - "Is Electronic Cigarettes a" God Tool for Quitting Smoking ". Many businesses promote electronic cigarettes with" Can Quit Smoking "as the selling point. However, consumers have different opinions on the effect of quitting smoking in actual use, and the statement of quitting smoking lacks scientific basis; "Does electronic smoke affect health?", electronic smoke "steam" is not harmless, "second-hand electronic smoke" is also harmful to health, and poor quality cigarette sets have potential safety hazards; "How Does E-cigarettes Affect Teenagers?" Although the state has specifically announced that "it is prohibited to sell e-cigarettes to minors", e-cigarettes are penetrating into teenagers online and offline, and the "ban on sales to minors" has not really been effectively realized; How should electronic cigarettes be managed? How to distinguish and supervise the various types of electronic cigarettes in the market? Is electronic cigarette harmful or harmless? Is there any definite evidence that it is healthier than cigarettes? These need to be discussed and clarified; How to Balance the Electronic Cigarette Industry and Public Health? The development potential of China's electronic cigarette industry is huge, but experts pointed out that to achieve a balance between the electronic cigarette industry and public health, China's government, enterprises, academia and other parties need to work together. Recently, the venture capital channel of People's Daily Online investigated the entire interest chain from the suppliers of electronic cigarette raw materials, co processing plants, investors, brand names, sales channels, etc., revealing more unknown industry secrets. According to the information obtained from the interview, the global regulation on electronic cigarettes is becoming stricter, and industry norms are imminent. Investors should understand the regulatory logic, strengthen self-restraint, and create a good environment for industrial development.
Zhang Yong, a fan of electronic cigarettes, often stayed up late and worked overtime. Once, he smoked five cigarettes in a row, suddenly felt dizzy and numb, and didn't recover until noon the next day. Since being exposed to "electronic cigarettes", he felt more stimulated than smoking real cigarettes, and felt that he was "addicted".
For the electronic cigarette industry, 2019 is a year of carnival and cloudy. Only in the first half of 2019, at least 9 entrepreneurial projects in the field of electronic cigarettes were financed. The latest data from the US Federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that as of October 1 this year, 1080 confirmed and suspected lung disease cases related to the use of electronic cigarettes have been reported in 48 states and the US Virgin Islands, with at least 18 deaths. On September 11, the White House announced that it would issue a sales ban on flavored electronic cigarettes.
Faced with the increasingly strict regulation of electronic cigarette products in the United States, Alibaba and JD, two major Chinese e-commerce companies, decided to suspend sales to the United States. However, according to the survey conducted by the People's Daily Online venture capital channel, the keyword "quit smoking magic tool" was searched on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Jingdong, and advertising slogans such as "it only takes three days to say goodbye to real cigarettes", "30 days to quit smoking", and "electronic cigarettes for harmless pregnant women" appeared.
In addition, the venture capital channel of People's Daily Online also found that, driven by interests, a company in Sanhe City, which mainly engaged in mounting and welding, turned into an "electronic cigarette processing factory". The staff of the factory vowed, "No matter what formula you provide, I can produce it for you without any qualification."
China is the world's largest producer of electronic cigarettes, and more than 90% of the world's electronic cigarette equipment is produced in Shenzhen. Relevant experts said that electronic cigarettes are neither tobacco, nor health care products, nor medical devices. They have been in the state of "no product standards, no quality supervision, and no safety assessment". However, atomized electronic cigarettes contain ultrafine particles and heavy metals, including lead, which are liable to harm human health.
Electronic cigarette for pregnant women?
Although electronic cigarette is a new outlet, it is not a new industry. As early as 2003, Han Li, a Chinese pharmacist, invented the first electronic cigarette "like smoke". Since then, electronic cigarettes have grown savagely in this hot land of China.
Until the 2015 evening party in 2019, CCTV pointed its finger at electronic cigarettes, doubting that smoking electronic cigarettes for a long time would lead to dependence on nicotine. After the broadcast of the program, JD, Tmall, Suning and other major e-commerce platforms have blocked the keyword of "electronic cigarette".
On July 22 this year, Mao Qun'an, head of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission, disclosed at the press conference that the National Health Commission is conducting research on the supervision of electronic cigarettes with relevant departments, plans to regulate electronic cigarettes through legislation, and prohibits businesses from promoting electronic cigarettes as "a magic weapon for quitting smoking".
However, the People's Daily Online venture capital channel still found a large number of e-cigarette products by searching for the keyword "quit smoking artifact" on e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Jingdong.
A shop in Jingdong sells electronic cigarettes for pregnant women at a price of 378 yuan, including 7 bottles of different fruit flavors+3 bottles of tobacco. It claims that it is a woman's magic weapon for quitting smoking, harmless hookah, and 10 bottles of tobacco oil are included. A Taobao store also said that its products are for pregnant women only, and do not contain nicotine, which does no harm to the fetus. However, many factory owners, investors and brand owners said that they had never heard of electronic cigarettes for pregnant women, and never recommended that pregnant women smoke electronic cigarettes.
Taobao Electronic Cigarette Store advocates He said that electronic cigarettes can play a role in smoking cessation to a certain extent, because the nicotine content is low, does not burn, and basically does not contain tar, so people will not have a sense of dependence. Electronic cigarettes do not contain addictive substances, which is like fruit juice, not addictive, but also has repeat customers.
One of the selling points of electronic cigarettes is the variety of tastes. "I can produce whatever flavor you want." Zhang He said that the cartridge of electronic cigarette contains essence, which is atomized into the mouth after sublimation. It is the same as drinking drinks, except that fog is different from water.
"It's normal to exaggerate the propaganda of electronic cigarettes." Li Ya, the boss of the Shenzhen OEM factory, said that he had seen a poster of Jiugongge, on which electronic cigarettes of different flavors were displayed, with nicotine content no more than 3%.
According to the venture capital channel of People's Daily Online, the concentration of electronic cigarette oil on the market is mainly divided into four common standards: no 0mg, low 6mg, medium 12mg and high 18mg.
"The mushrooms and tomatoes we eat in our daily life also contain traces of nicotine, and the nicotine content in tobacco oil is higher than that in grains, but these traces of nicotine are used to quit smoking, which does no harm to the body." The owner of a shop selling electronic cigarettes on Taobao said. "Why is it nicotine salt (a compound containing nicotine and other organic components)? Nicotine salt is used to make the tobacco oil taste like real smoke," the shopkeeper added.
A bioengineering technology company in Xi'an specializes in the raw materials of electronic cigarettes, providing highly concentrated flavors, coolants, sweeteners and nicotine, of which more than 800 flavors are available. According to its staff, nicotine is used to make electronic cigarettes smell like ordinary cigarettes. The normal dose of tobacco oil on the market is 3mg and 6mg, but some electronic cigarettes contain 12mg or more of tobacco oil, which is not only addictive, but also easy to make people "drunk".
The element of "mystery"
Zhang Wei, an electronic smoker, has experienced "drunken smoking" symptoms. Before he bought the electronic cigarette for the first time, he simply glanced at the chemical composition of the packing box. After smoking, he felt slightly dizzy and could not stand steadily.
"When we packed our customers' products, some raw materials were not printed on the packaging box, and the specific content of harmful substances would not be marked." Li Ya said that the promotion of electronic cigarettes today mainly disclosed individual data and content of ingredients, and some dangerous ingredients were not listed on the packaging.
Li Yan, a researcher of the electronic cigarette testing agency, said that electronic cigarettes will definitely add nicotine. At present, there is no corresponding standard for the nicotine content of electronic cigarettes. The actual nicotine content of many brands of electronic cigarettes is quite different from the content marked on the package. In order to make electronic cigarettes known to users, there are also some abnormal competitions in the market. The content of addictive nicotine and related tobacco extracts is increasing, and the taste is also getting stronger and stronger. Even illegal products are added, making people feel that real cigarettes are tasteless after smoking electronic cigarettes.
Li Yan said that maintaining nicotine salt at a medium or low level would not cause obvious harm to the body, but could bring satisfaction and excitement. For people who are not addicted to tobacco, it is appropriate to choose nicotine salt of medium and low degree. If they are addicted to tobacco, they can choose high content of tobacco oil. However, the content of tobacco oil should not exceed 24mg, or you may feel unwell or even faint.
What worried Li Yan was that due to the blank supervision of electronic cigarettes, more and more electronic cigarettes with unknown origin were added by individual businesses, which could not keep users healthy and even damage the nerves of smokers.
On October 4 this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement warning consumers to stop using electronic cigarette products with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, a high concentration chemical ingredient extracted from industrial cannabis), and not to use any electronic cigarette products obtained from the street or other irregular channels.
The statement also mentioned that the investigation showed that the electronic cigarette products containing tetrahydrocannabinol were related to a large number of lung disease cases reported recently. It was suggested that consumers should not use electronic cigarette products added with tetrahydrocannabinol and electronic cigarette products purchased through informal channels, nor modify the composition of electronic cigarettes or add any substances, such as tetrahydrocannabinol or other oil substances, without authorization.
Li Yan said that tetrahydrocannabinol is a hallucinogenic component of cannabis, and the origin of electronic cigarette products containing tetrahydrocannabinol is unknown. If tetrahydrocannabinol is ingested beyond the limit, it may lead to sudden death of smokers.
In Li Yan's opinion, electronic cigarettes are more harmful than ordinary tobacco. In addition to nicotine and tar, electronic cigarettes also contain nicotine salt, formaldehyde, propylene glycol, glycerin and other harmful substances. Formaldehyde, propylene glycol and glycerin can strongly stimulate the respiratory tract, and impurities and spices may also pose health and safety risks. Even, there are ultrafine particles in the atomized electronic smoke, including heavy metals such as lead, and even carcinogens.
Li Yan said that with the arrival of the electronic cigarette outlet, some bad businesses have flocked to produce low-quality electronic cigarettes in order to grab profits, so smokers should not smoke electronic cigarette products obtained from the street or other informal channels, and their smoke may come from small workshops.
On Taobao platform, electronic cigarettes exclusively for women and pregnant women are being sold, and businesses claim that "real cigarettes taste good, without harm from real cigarettes"
False qualification
Driven by the interests, a company in Hebei, which mainly engaged in pasting and wave soldering, has also become a substitute manufacturer of electronic cigarettes.
This company is located in Chaobai Street, Sanhe City, Hebei Province. It claims to be an electronic product limited company. Its main business is SMT (surface assembly technology) mounting, welding and electronic product assembly. According to the employees of the company, in addition to the main business, they also process electronic cigarettes. The charges are divided into working hours and equipment rental. A production line costs 60 yuan per hour.
"We have never processed e-cigarettes before." The above staff said, however, the assembly of e-cigarettes is simple. You only need to provide funds, design schemes and raw materials, and the company can produce e-cigarettes in batches without any qualification.
Now, with the birth of capital, many e-cigarette brands have been established. Due to the lack of effective supervision, e-cigarettes have been drifting away from the edge of the law, and problems such as adding contraband, exaggerating publicity and falsifying qualifications frequently occur.
The venture capital channel of People's Daily Online found that qualification publicity such as "FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Certification", "FDA Food Report", "EU CE Certification", and "National Quality Inspection" are quite common in the atomized e-cigarette market through the investigation of several online shopping platforms. It is understood that it is only a registration number issued for each registered food agency, The FDA registration number does not mean that it has been approved by the US FDA, so the so-called "FDA certification" certificate by the retailers on Taobao does not exist at all. FDA has also announced that it does not recognize the registration certificate issued by a third party.
Guo Cong, director of the Tort Law Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, said that domestic e-cigarette retailers generally make false propaganda in the name of "FDA certification", which violates Article 8 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Countering Unfair Competition: operators shall not comment on the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation Those who have won honors have made false or misleading commercial propaganda to deceive and mislead consumers.
More than 90% of the world's electronic cigarette equipment is produced in Shenzhen. According to Li Ya, in Shenzhen, because of the low difficulty in the production of electronic cigarettes, we can rent a small factory at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to recruit workers, and then we can take orders for production. In addition, there are not many patents for e-cigarette, and the intellectual property rights of most e-cigarette brands are mainly concentrated on the appearance and design level, rather than the technical level.
"Why is Shenzhen's electronic cigarette developed? That's because Shenzhen's electronic industry and processing industry are developed and well managed. It's difficult for factories in other places to compete with them." Li Ya said that some factories may not only focus on electronic cigarettes, but they do everything. For example, when the electronic cigarette outlet comes, these factories will immediately change their appearance and become electronic cigarette manufacturers. Then they form an alliance and adopt the same price to exclude the electronic cigarette manufacturers in other places.
The cost of a few yuan of tobacco stems
Liya entered the field of electronic cigarette production in 2005. He once worked as a OEM and OEM. In order to survive, the factory also produces processed food.
The year 2005 was the most chaotic year in the electronic cigarette market, which lasted until 2010. At that time, there was no content index of electronic cigarettes, and even the appearance of electronic cigarettes was varied, ranging from eight centimeters to five centimeters, transparent cigarette tubes filled with tobacco oil, and filters with flavor.
Since 2018, with the advent of electronic smoke vents, the number of co processing has increased sharply, which also shows Li Ya the business opportunity. He imports atomizers from India, refits old production lines and looks for raw material suppliers. After long-term efforts, the current capacity has stabilized.
"We have received a lot of large orders to make cigarette bombs, that is, to put flavor and other raw materials into cigarette bombs, but we do not produce special atomizers, because the other party will check the specifications and indicators of the atomizers when they are delivered," said Li Ya.
The reason why Li Ya didn't want to make an atomizer was that the atomizer was too cheap and the profit space was low. For example, the cigarette rod was made of steel or plastic after the atomizer was covered with a grinding tool. The production was simple and the cost was only a few yuan, but the profit space of raw materials and smoke bomb production was high.
High profits are accompanied by high risks. Li Ya said that today's cigarette bombs have not yet completely achieved the same taste, and even the quality of raw materials has experienced problems, leading to all the cigarette bombs of the same batch being labeled as unqualified.
In the past, Liya purchased raw materials from middlemen, but in order to make money, the middlemen did not know where to import unqualified raw materials. In the end, the products failed to pass the inspection, and the customer did not pay, so he had to sue the raw material supplier through the court. So far, millions of accounts have been confiscated.
Li Ya said that different customers have different requirements, but the other side will provide formulas, and then they will purchase and produce. Generally speaking, the formula of each electronic cigarette is confidential, but we all know that the raw materials are the same, but the content is different.
In Li Ya's opinion, after the arrival of the electronic cigarette, orders kept coming, and the factory basically realized full load operation. Although he had the technology to produce electronic cigarettes, he never had the opportunity to produce his own brand.
"I will make the money I can earn first, and when I have the production capacity later, I may invest in an electronic cigarette brand by myself, instead of producing more, I will only make hundreds of electronic cigarettes and give them as gifts," said Li Ya.
On the JD platform, electronic cigarettes for pregnant women are on sale, and the advertising slogan of the merchants shows that "Buy this electronic cigarette with the price of 378 yuan, and 10 bottles of tobacco oil are included"
Supervision "storm" is coming
As a substitute for traditional tobacco, early electronic cigarettes were more like medical products and "tobacco like toys", which had not been given an accurate positioning by the market and relevant regulatory agencies.
Failure to regulate does not mean disregard. According to US CDC data, by September 17, 2019, the number of serious lung disease cases related to the use of electronic cigarettes in the US had risen to 530, of which 7 were confirmed dead. The preliminary data shows that these patients have a history of using electronic cigarette products containing tetrahydrocannabinol and nicotine. At present, more than a dozen countries and regions in the world, such as the United States, India, Japan, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand, Brazil, etc., have completely or partially banned electronic cigarettes.
China is the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer. Since 2014, the tobacco industry has turned over 1 trillion yuan of profits and taxes to the government every year. As a major taxpayer, China National Tobacco Corporation is known as the "most profitable company". In 2018, China's pre tax profit of tobacco was 1155.62 billion yuan, about 16 times that of Alibaba, 14 times that of Tencent and 3 times that of Apple.
Tsinghua University's Report on the Status of Electronic Cigarette Industry Regulation in the Public Health and Technology Regulation Research Report (2019) shows that in 2017, China's electronic cigarette consumption reached 7.4 million people, and China has become the world's largest producer of electronic cigarette products (accounting for 95% of the world's share) and exporter (accounting for 90% of the world's share).
As of August 2018, there were 25979 electronic cigarette patents in the world, of which 22825 were in China, accounting for nearly 87.9%. However, with the development of the past decade, the share of electronic cigarettes in the Chinese tobacco market is less than 1%, far less than 13% of the American market.
The huge market attracts capital crazy pursuit. In April 2019, Luo Yonghao was defeated on his mobile phone and joined Ono, an electronic cigarette brand founded by Peng Jinzhou, former president of Hammer Technology. The brand of Flu Electronic Cigarette was also founded by Zhu Xiaomu, the former product director of Hammer Technology, who is known as the No. 1 employee of Hammer Technology. As of the first half of this year, Ferro Electronic Cigarette has raised tens of millions of dollars. Cai Yuedong, the founder of the same uncle, and Hechang, the founder of Huang Taiji, announced the launch of "YOOZ pomelo" electronic cigarettes, and the turnover of electronic cigarettes sold on the first day of spot sales reached 5 million.
Zhang Jinyuan, a former CEO of the same uncle and a well-known We Media person, and Li Yan, CEO of WeMedia Holding Group, founded LINX Lingxi. At the beginning of the launch, they received angel rounds of 10 million yuan investment, and then successively completed two rounds of 10 million yuan financing. At present, there are thousands of e-cigarette brands in the domestic market, forming a pattern of "thousand cigarettes war".
Behind the "thousand cigarettes war" is the "three no" state of no product standards, no quality supervision and no safety assessment. Mao Qun'an, head of the Planning Department of the National Health Commission, disclosed on July 22 this year that the National Health Commission is conducting research on the supervision of electronic cigarettes with relevant departments, and plans to regulate electronic cigarettes through legislation.
Yang Huo, the co-founder of an electronic cigarette brand, believes that if the regulatory details are released this year, two aspects can be controlled, one is the source of electronic cigarette raw materials, the construction of channels, and the other is the control of electronic cigarette cartridge composition. The government regulation may be standardized from the details of electronic cigarette fittings, electronic cigarette liquid, and electronic cigarette emissions.
Li Yan also believes that electronic cigarettes can be regulated according to the product composition, such as the batteries, atomizing equipment and smoke cartridges of electronic cigarettes. Only after these requirements are met, can such products be assembled and circulated in the market.
Li Yan further pointed out that from the perspective of consumers, the regulation of electronic cigarettes is conducive to reducing security risks, ensuring the personal health of users and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Similarly, it is also conducive to the orderly and healthy development of the industry.
(At the request of the interviewer, Li Yan, Yang Huo, Zhang He and Li Ya are pseudonyms)
(Editor in charge: Huang Lingli, Chen Jian)
