Online sellers giving kids a nasty habit

ACCORDING TO THE Tobacco Monopoly Law, only adults are allowed to buy cigarettes and only authorized retailers are allowed to sell them. Yet parents in different cities across China have complained to the media about how easy it is for children to buy cigarettes online. Sznews.com commented on Monday:

It is illegal to sell cigarettes through e-commerce channels, and selling tobacco to juveniles also breaks the law. Yet it seems that has not hindered vendors on e-commerce platforms from selling cigarettes to underage smokers.

Several days after media reports about the problem, tobacco sellers are still active on the internet, and it seems neither the e-commerce platform companies — some are big names in the industry — nor the industrial and commercial administrative departments have acted to put a stop to their illegal activities.

It is time for the law enforcers to take immediate action to hold accountable not only the vendors and their suppliers, but also the e-commerce companies for ignoring the illegal business practices under their eyes.

The e-commerce companies have the primary responsibility to ensure no illegal activities are carried out on their platforms. If the e-commerce giants cannot fulfill this responsibility, they will not be able to avoid the suspicions that they are shielding or conniving in the illegal practices for profit.

China has the world’s largest population of smokers and second-hand smokers. Researchers on tobacco control have pointed out the economic loss incurred by the loss of labor and cost of medical care due to tobacco use far outweighs the added value generated by the State-owned tobacco industry.

Preventing young people from becoming new smokers is a daunting task. But putting an end to the online selling of tobacco products to juveniles will be a big step forward.

Firecrackers are noisy, pollute the air, and often pose safety risks, all of which have prompted the majority of cities to ban or strictly limit their use.

But there are those who insist firecrackers are an indispensable part of the Spring Festival celebrations. So to cater to them, some companies are producing electronic firecrackers, which make a similar noise. They claim that by using electronic firecrackers, people can celebrate Spring Festival in the customary noisy manner while avoiding the palls of pollution and safety problems.

However, the safety of these electronic firecrackers is also being questioned. Shanghai made a survey of the electronic firecrackers on sale in the market before Spring Festival last year, and found that 95 percent had safety risks such as easily catching fire.

Worse, the current national safety standards on firecrackers do not involve electronic firecrackers. In other words, there is no way to judge whether an electronic firecracker product is safe or not.

Therefore, while electronic firecrackers might involve less pollution than traditional firecrackers, there is no national standard to ensure their safety or quality. As a result, electronic firecrackers might be just as dangerous as traditional ones.

In order to solve that problem, it is necessary for experts and legislators to update the national safety standards so that they cover electronic firecrackers. Before the new national standards come into effect, it is better for safety supervising agencies nationwide to keep a closer eye on electronic firecrackers to prevent any possible accidents from happening.