This is Policy Review, which addresses misunderstandings about policies in the media and answers questions about policies in daily life. There has been criticism that including ‘tar’ in the process of disclosing harmful tobacco ingredients does not align with the purpose of the law. We will verify the facts, and recently, smishing messages have significantly increased due to the recent personal information leak incident at Coupang.
Recent media reports with the title ‘Disclose the ingredients of the mixture tar… Controversy over the Tobacco Harm Management Act’ stated that including ‘tar’, which is a mixture of thousands of chemical substances, as a single ingredient in the inspection target does not align with the purpose of the law. In response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated that they would inspect harmful tobacco ingredients based on scientific expertise and disclose all major harmful ingredients. Tobacco contains thousands of chemical substances, including carcinogens and toxic substances, and tar is a complex ingredient that provides important information, including harmful substances that have not yet been identified, excluding water and nicotine.
The government clarified that the inspection and disclosure targets of the ‘Tobacco Harm Management Act’ are not limited to single ingredients. Many countries, including the European Union, Canada, Japan, and Brazil, also regulate tar, a complex ingredient in tobacco, and the ‘Tobacco Business Act’ in Korea also defines tar as a tobacco ingredient and manages its labeling and content. Regarding the criticism that some of the 44 harmful ingredients have not yet been officially tested, it was reported that improved testing methods for the 44 harmful ingredients were developed and disclosed through years of research projects, referring to the official testing methods of the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Standardization, and Canada.
Recently, smishing crimes exploiting the personal information leak incident at Coupang have been increasing. Smishing scams focus on ‘inducing clicks’ and ‘stealing personal information’. Due to the personal information leak, the accuracy of smishing targets has increased, and the probability of damage has risen, making it more important to be cautious. To prevent and report smishing, do not click on internet addresses in suspicious messages and verify the facts with the official customer center. It is also advisable to delete suspicious messages immediately. Reports can be made to the police at 112, the Financial Supervisory Service at 1332, and the Korea Internet & Security Agency at 118.