The new law sets rules about the additives in cigarettes, harmful components in cigarette smoke, and how to manage the negative effects of smoking. It provides the legal foundation for these regulations. (Image courtesy of Pixabay)
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Going forward, both the additives used in cigarettes and the harmful substances that come from smoking them will be disclosed to the South Korean public.
The National Assembly approved the “Law on the Control of Harmful Effects of Tobacco” (draft) during its full session on October 6. This law mandates the disclosure of the types and amounts of harmful ingredients used in cigarettes.
It will take effect two years after it’s officially announced and is expected to be put into practice by October 2025.
The new law sets rules about the additives in cigarettes, harmful components in cigarette smoke, and how to manage the negative effects of smoking. It provides the legal foundation for these regulations.
Once the law is in place, cigarette makers, importers, and distributors will need to regularly test the harmful ingredients in their products every two years and share the results, along with information on what’s in the cigarettes, with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
The data about dangerous ingredients in tobacco will be made available to the public online. The specific harmful components that will be disclosed will be decided by the Tobacco Harmfulness Control Committee.
This requirement to disclose harmful ingredients also extends to e-cigarettes, including their liquid and cigarette varieties.
In 2005, South Korea became a part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This convention mandates the analysis and disclosure of harmful ingredients in cigarettes.
According to the WHO, tobacco contains over 4,000 chemicals and more than 70 cancer-causing substances.
Up until now, South Korea has only mentioned the tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes and hasn’t examined or revealed the content of six carcinogenic substances, which include naphthylamine, nickel, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, and cadmium.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
