Restricting flavoured tobacco products
Tobacco industry adds flavourings to make tobacco products more attractive, especially to young people. A generous range of flavours have been developed for different smoking products, including conventional cigarettes, waterpipe tobacco, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes, etc. Some countries have imposed regulations to reduce the impact of flavoured tobacco products.
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By reducing or masking the harshness and bitterness of tobacco, flavourings make tobacco products more palatable and quitting more difficult. To lure youth to smoke, the tobacco industry continually develops youth-appealing tobacco products, including flavoured tobacco products. Internal documents of the industry revealed that the industry had paid huge efforts in the past few decades to identify how flavourings work and what flavours work. Nowadays, flavours of tobacco product are not limited to ordinary flavours such as fruit, candy and menthol flavours. Tobacco products in conceptional flavours such as “arctic air” and “tropical breeze”, which may trigger youth’s curiosity about smoking, are also available on the market.
The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 9 requires Parties to the treaty to regulate the contents of tobacco products, recommending prohibition of or restrictions on ingredients that may modify the palatability of tobacco products. Some counties have implemented or are planning regulations on flavoured tobacco products. Flavoured tobacco regulations are summarized as follows.
| Countries | Regulations |
| Australia |
Bans fruit and confectionery flavours in cigarettes Planning to ban all flavours in cigarettes |
| Brazil (to be implemented), Ethiopia and Uganda | Ban all flavours in tobacco leaf products |
| Canada | Ban all flavours in cigarettes, little cigars, cigars (under 6g) and blunt wraps; and menthol and clove flavours in all other tobacco products |
| European Union, the United Kingdom and Turkey | Ban all characterizing flavours in cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco |
| Mauritania | Bans ingredients that improve the taste of tobacco leaf products |
| Niger | Bans non-menthol flavours in tobacco leaf products |
| Senegal | Bans all characterizing aromatic agents in tobacco leaf products |
| Singapore | Bans fruit-flavoured waterpipe tobacco |
| United States |
Bans non-menthol characterizing flavours in cigarettes Planning to ban menthol flavours in cigarettes, and characterizing flavours other than tobacco flavours in cigars |
*Definition of characterizing flavours varies, but commonly includes fruit, confectionery, spice flavours, etc.
The tobacco industry always undermines tobacco control measures with different tactics. New products are developed to circumvent flavour regulations, including developing other flavoured tobacco products to replace cigarettes; tobacco products in new menthol flavours; and accessories that allow addition of flavours into tobacco products, such as flavoured filters and wraps.
Without any regulations on flavoured tobacco product, many smokers in Hong Kong initiated smoking with flavoured cigarettes, and flavoured cigarettes are particularly appealing to youth smokers and female smokers. According to Thematic Household Survey Report No. 75, nearly 30% of current smokers had flavoured cigarettes at first smoking, and around 60% of current smokers aged 20-39 years and 70% of female current smokers smoke flavoured cigarettes. Flavoured tobacco products play a key role in smoking uptake and addiction in these vulnerable groups. To effectively eliminate the appeal of flavoured tobacco and reduce smoking uptake especially among youth, the Government should ban all flavoured tobacco products and accessories.
Reference: Cancer Council Victoria and Global review of tobacco product flavour policies