[News Today] 44 harmful tobacco substances designated

[LEAD]
Until now, it's been hard to know exactly what harmful substances are in cigarettes, and how much.

That's about to change as early as the second half of next year.

For cigarette-type tobacco, 44 harmful substances will be required by law to be disclosed.

[REPORT]
Only eight harmful substances such as tar and nicotine are marked on cigarette packages.

There is no way of knowing how much of other toxic substances are contained in the cigarettes.

In response, the government decided to name specific harmful substances in tobacco and made it mandatory to test for those substances and disclose their test results.

The government designated 44 harmful substances, including tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide and acetone, in cigarette-type tobacco and e-cigarettes, and 20 substances such as nicotine and formaldehyde in liquid-type e-cigarettes.

As a result, tobacco manufacturers, importers and distributors must test for harmful substances biennially and submit the results to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The ministry plans to release the harmful substance test results on its homepage as early as the second half of next year.

However, most smokers are skeptical of the government measure.

Smoker in his 20s /
Smokers will be alarmed early on but I think they will keep smoking anyway.

Smoker in his 30s /
I don't think additional disclosure would mean very much.

There are concerns that the disclosed test results could be used as the basis for choosing less harmful cigarettes and eventually hinder the smoking rate from dropping.

Lee Sung-kyu / CEO, Center for Tobacco Control Research, Education
One may think cigarette A is less harmful than cigarette B. The results should be released in a way that minimizes smokers' misunderstanding.

The government plans to continuously add more harmful substances subject to testing.

■ 제보하기
▷ 전화 : 02-781-1234, 4444
▷ 이메일 : kbs1234@kbs.co.kr
▷ 카카오톡 : 'KBS제보' 검색, 채널 추가
▷ 카카오 '마이뷰', 유튜브에서 KBS뉴스를 구독해주세요!

KBS