A South Korean vaping industry organization is suing two government agencies for spreading misinformation about nicotine vaping that it says caused financial distress for many of its members. The group wants the government to correct the record.
The Korea Electronic Cigarette Association (KECA), which represents about 4,000 vape product retailers, alleges that the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) damaged the reputation of small vape businesses and caused them great financial harm.
The agencies misinformed Koreans about vaping and “EVALI”
The Oct. 23, 2019 press release urged Koreans to avoid e-liquid-based vaping products, based on supposed concerns over the outbreak of U.S. vaping-related lung injuries called “EVALI” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (We place quotation marks on the name to denote that “EVALI” is a CDC-created term—”e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury”—that itself furthers the mistaken belief that e-cigarettes bear any responsibility for the injuries. The name is believed to have been coined by former CDC employee and current FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King.)
Jim McDonald – Vaping360.com – 2022-10-20.
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