3.1 Health risks and addiction issues

Although e-cigarettes are seen as a "harm reduction option" in promotion, there is still a lack of sufficient clinical verification of the real health effects on users after long-term use. For example:

• High nicotine concentration is still common : The nicotine content of mainstream cigarette cartridges on the market is mostly in the range of 20-50mg/ml, and one cigarette cartridge can be equivalent to a whole pack of cigarettes. Without a gradual decreasing mechanism, users are prone to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes, and even aggravate addiction.

• The composition of e-liquid lacks regulatory consistency : as the US FDA pointed out, most small and medium-sized e-cigarette brands still find potential carcinogens such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acaldehyde, etc. , which cause chronic irritation to the lungs and throat.

• Long-term health effects are unknown : Although the Public Health Department (PHE) of the United Kingdom has stated that "e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes", WHO and CDC also pointed out that this conclusion is mostly based on short-term exposure experiments and lacks follow-up data of more than 10 years.

Therefore, the "harm reduction" of e-cigarettes cannot be equated with "harmlessness". When users lack usage strategies and exit mechanisms, they may fall into a new type of dependence.