Like in many other countries, there are growing concerns in South Korea about the health risks of e-cigarettes.
Now the health ministry is urging people to stop using them... and wants lawmakers to pass tougher bills on controlling their sale.
Our Kim Bo-kyoung has this report.
Back in September, the Health Ministry advised people not to use liquid-type e-cigarettes,... but now the ministry is issuing a stronger warning over their use.
"Firstly, the ministry strongly urges people to stop using e-cigarettes, especially children, teenagers, pregnant women and people with respiratory diseases."
The ministry recommended teens to stop using e-cigarettes immediately. It also urged lawmakers to tighten controls on e-cigarettes by passing several pending bills.
If the bills are passed, the government would be able to extend the definition of cigarettes to include e-cigarettes. The current definition is restricted to cigarettes made from tobacco leaves. The bill would also force manufacturers and importers to submit information about harmful substances, and would allow the government to ban companies from putting flavors in cigarettes to discourage teens from starting vaping.
The ministry also seeks to amend the current law to let the government recall cigarettes and ban the sales of the product if it is found to harm people's health.
These measures follow a suspected case of lung disease related to vaping, which was reported over a week ago in Korea, as well as a rise in the number of diseases and deaths in United States that have been blamed on e-cigarettes.
According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1479 lung disease cases associated with the use of e-cigarettes or vaping products have been reported as of October 15th.
E-cigarettes are thought to be behind thirty-three deaths of patients in the U.S., but the cause of the deaths is yet to be confirmed.
Thus, the CDC has recommended people not to use e-cigarettes or vaping products in order to avoid the risk... and e-cigarette giant Juul decided to temporarily stop selling certain flavored e-cigarettes online about a week ago, with states such as Massachusetts and Washington also temporarily banning e-cigarette sales.
Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.
