Dr. Leospace
Alpiniste Kundalini
China probes safety of nicotine inhalers
By ELAINE KURTENBACH BW Exclusives SHANGHAI, China
Chinese food and drug safety officials are investigating claims that an inhaler marketed as an aid to stop smoking may release potentially harmful levels of nicotine.
"We are waiting for official results from the State Food and Drug Administration," an official from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said Monday.
The comment confirmed reports that the product, Ruyan, which means "like smoking" in Chinese, was under study.
"If they find Ruyan is harmful to people's health, we will stop advertisements and ban the product," said the official, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would give only his surname, Li.
An advertisement for Ruyan on YouTube, in German, shows happy restaurant-goers enjoying their inhalers while a man who tries to light a cigarette is warned not to do so because he is in a no-smoking section.
A debate over the safety of the product, formally known as the Ruyan Atomizing Electronic Cigarette, surfaced last month when state media reported that one inhaler contains about 18 mg. of nicotine, compared with 1.2 mg. for an average cigarette.
The maker of the inhaler, Beijing SBT Ruyan Corp., says the strongest inhaler contains nicotine equivalent to what would be found in a pack of cigarettes. Users are meant to use gradually weaker inhalers as a substitute for cigarettes until they are able to stop smoking altogether.
The company says its product is safer than smoking because it contains only nicotine and none of the other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, and says it is a promising aid for helping China's 350 million smokers kick the habit.
The product recently was named a "National Innovation for Public Good."
An official at Ruyan's headquarters referred inquiries to the company's Web site.
"China should have policies that support products that can help control smoking and vigorously promote innovation," one statement on the Web site said.
About 1 million Chinese die each year from smoking-related causes, a number that could triple by 2050, health authorities say.
The government has promised a ban on any new cigarette factories but has been slow to act against an industry that generated almost 160 billion yuan (US$20 billion; euro17 billion) in tax revenues last year.
By ELAINE KURTENBACH BW Exclusives SHANGHAI, China
Chinese food and drug safety officials are investigating claims that an inhaler marketed as an aid to stop smoking may release potentially harmful levels of nicotine.
"We are waiting for official results from the State Food and Drug Administration," an official from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said Monday.
The comment confirmed reports that the product, Ruyan, which means "like smoking" in Chinese, was under study.
"If they find Ruyan is harmful to people's health, we will stop advertisements and ban the product," said the official, who like many Chinese bureaucrats would give only his surname, Li.
An advertisement for Ruyan on YouTube, in German, shows happy restaurant-goers enjoying their inhalers while a man who tries to light a cigarette is warned not to do so because he is in a no-smoking section.
A debate over the safety of the product, formally known as the Ruyan Atomizing Electronic Cigarette, surfaced last month when state media reported that one inhaler contains about 18 mg. of nicotine, compared with 1.2 mg. for an average cigarette.
The maker of the inhaler, Beijing SBT Ruyan Corp., says the strongest inhaler contains nicotine equivalent to what would be found in a pack of cigarettes. Users are meant to use gradually weaker inhalers as a substitute for cigarettes until they are able to stop smoking altogether.
The company says its product is safer than smoking because it contains only nicotine and none of the other harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, and says it is a promising aid for helping China's 350 million smokers kick the habit.
The product recently was named a "National Innovation for Public Good."
An official at Ruyan's headquarters referred inquiries to the company's Web site.
"China should have policies that support products that can help control smoking and vigorously promote innovation," one statement on the Web site said.
About 1 million Chinese die each year from smoking-related causes, a number that could triple by 2050, health authorities say.
The government has promised a ban on any new cigarette factories but has been slow to act against an industry that generated almost 160 billion yuan (US$20 billion; euro17 billion) in tax revenues last year.