Korea publishes carcinogen data for every cigarette and vape it sells

Every heated-tobacco and liquid e-cigarette product South Korea tested contained chemicals the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies as Group 1 human carcinogens, the government said on Oct. 29 as it published emissions data for all 465 tobacco products sold in the country.

The disclosure is the first since the Tobacco Harmfulness Management Act took effect on Nov. 1, 2025, and covers products from 20 manufacturers and importers: 256 cigarettes, 104 heated-tobacco sticks and 105 liquid e-cigarettes. Regulators tested 44 components in cigarettes and heated sticks and 20 in liquid refills, or 46 distinct substances. Until now, cigarette packs carried only nicotine and tar figures plus a line noting six carcinogenic substances.

Formaldehyde appeared in all 256 cigarettes, at 39.5 to 181 micrograms per stick, and in all 104 heated products, at 5.4 to 12.1 micrograms. Benzene was found in every cigarette at 19.6 to 99.9 micrograms. Among liquid products, 99 of 105 contained formaldehyde.

Seoul paired the release with a five-year plan running from 2027 to 2031, approved by the Tobacco Harmfulness Management Policy Committee, which is jointly chaired by officials from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Testing will add smokeless tobacco, leaf cigars and water pipe products, and the component list will grow to about 50 for cigarettes and heated sticks and about 30 for liquid products by 2030. Companies will have to submit the purpose of each ingredient, not just its name, and face random unannounced inspections. New products must be submitted for testing within one month of going on sale, down from as much as 17 months under the current deadline.

Officials also said menthol was confirmed as a major additive and that they would review how such additives raise a product's appeal.

The government's central message is that the figures cannot be used to shop for a safer product. Measurements differ by method — cigarettes and heated sticks were tested on emissions per stick using a strengthened collection method newly listed by the International Organization for Standardization, while liquids were tested as liquid per gram — so cross-category comparison is invalid, officials said.

"The types and detected amounts of harmful components differ by tobacco type and product, but the fact that some components were detected in smaller amounts should not be taken as grounds to judge a tobacco product as less harmful to health," the committee said. It added that the inspection confirmed which harmful components exist in products and "should not be misunderstood as a standard for choosing less harmful tobacco."

Ads or promotions that excerpt or simply compare results to suggest a product is less harmful may be subject to legal action, the government said.

The market the data describes is shifting. Cigarette sales fell from 3.44 billion packs in 2017 to 2.87 billion in 2024, while e-cigarette sales rose from 80 million packs to 660 million. Flavoured cigarettes took 46.5 percent of the market in 2023, up from 9.8 percent a decade earlier. Adult use of any tobacco product stood at 36.3 percent for men and 8.6 percent for women in 2025; the plan targets 29.0 percent and 6.0 percent by 2030.

Synthetic-nicotine products, brought into the legal definition of tobacco by an amendment effective April 24, 2026, will be tested and disclosed from 2027. The government also plans to develop standard devices and methods so liquid products can be tested on their emissions rather than the liquid alone.