New report says China’s tobacco policies undermined by online cigar vendors

Online cigar vendors are undermining tobacco control policies in China, according to research published by Tobacco Control.

The researchers said they had identified 106 internet cigar vendors located in 16 cities, most of them “developed cities,” including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Only 6.6 percent of these Internet cigar vendors featured health warnings, and only 14.2 percent featured minimum age of sale information.

The researchers concluded that “new legislation and enforcement” should be used to address these issues.

The researchers were Junling Gao, Lulu Huang Pinpin Zheng and Hua Fu of the School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai; and Carla J. Berg of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.