The Ministry of Health's proposal is to combine all these products into one group, but the concepts, definitions, and structures of these products are completely different.
The concept of hybrid in new cigarettes
In addition to electronic cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, the market has seen the emergence of hybrid cigarettes. This is also a new group of cigarettes - without the burning process of traditional cigarettes.
Although often classified by manufacturers as TLNN, hybrid products are often called "hybrid electronic waste mixing" but are designed and operated similar to TLDT because the device is evaporated with solutions - a factor that makes the authorities worried about the risk of mixing banned substances. Specifically, hybrid cigarettes heat essential oils, containing fragrances and other additives to create steam. However, unlike electronic cigarettes, hybrid exhaust gas will pass through the tobacco material before being inhaled, creating a blend of electronic cigarettes technology and traditional materials.
TLNN only contains natural cigarette ingredients, no solutions (abbreviated as goc TLNN), using electronic devices (without storage compartments and without the function of operating with essential oils) to directly heat cigarettes (containing natural cigarettes) to create khi. Therefore, the original electronic cigarette system is a closed system, containing no solutions such as mixed cigarettes or electronic cigarettes, so there are no conditions for mixing impurities.
Because of the mix between e-cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, hybrid cigarettes pose many questions about their classification, management and impact on users' health.
At the seminar "Improving the law to control new tobacco - From policy to practice" on June 3, delegates agreed that correctly identifying the true nature of new types of tobacco is an important premise for building effective control policies.
Mr. Le Thanh Hung - Head of the Department of Agricultural and Food Standards, Vietnam Institute of Quality Standards, Ministry of Science and Technology said: Forests and pilot funds are different in nature, structure and mechanism of operation. The original electronic cigarette issued is in the form of a cigarette, made from tobacco materials, heated by electronic devices to create steam. After being smoked, the cigarette was intact and not burned like traditional cigarettes. Meanwhile, e-cigarettes use electronic devices to make soluble steam, which does not contain tobacco materials.
Unclear definition, difficult to implement
To date, "new cigarettes" do not include all types of cigarettes that are not traditional cigarettes. For example, the electronic market alone has produced hybrid products. The electronic electronic payment system has closed form, open form, single use form, vape form... so according to Mr. Hung, electronic payment system is classified as "evaporation products", unlike the original electronic payment system but without solutions. Experts say it will be difficult to fully identify new types of cigarettes in the coming time.
"In the past, identifying TollNN and TollDT, whether a cigarette or not is a cigarette very easy. But now it is difficult to fully describe the concepts or identify their contents, said Ms. Nguyen Quynh Lien - Head of the Committee for Democracy, Supervision and Social Debate, Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
But the need is how to control these products to implement Resolution 173/2024/QH15 banning "TCT, electronic cigarettes, gases, addictive substances, harming human health" as passed by the National Assembly.
According to experts, international documents on product classification and customs codes are the basis for helping countries, whether they ban or manage, to issue definitions and technical languages according to international standards for appropriate control.
According to Ms. Lien, if there are no clear concepts and regulations for each new type of cigarette, the concept will easily be dismissed.
According to the announcement of the International Standards Organization (ISO), TLNN is a separate product, different from traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes. An important standard for defining TLNN as a product containing ingredients such as heated (unburned) cigarettes to create exhaust gas containing nicotine, does not mention the solution.
At the 8th Conference of Parties to the Roadmap for Tobacco Control (COP8) in 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) affirmed that electronic cigarettes are cigarettes, and noted that they are not compared to tobacco products. WHO also recommends that member countries manage electronic cigarettes within the current national legal framework for tobacco control.
