"What are you looking for, kid?"

"I'm looking for a cigarette box."

This is a conversation between a community cleaner in Tianjin and a 10-year-old child.

The cleaner told the Legal Daily reporter that recently, primary school students have been looking for cigarette boxes in the trash cans in the sanitation area where she cleans. She always dissuades the children from looking for trash cans. "In the past, only the elderly came to look for plastic bottles, but now the children are looking for cigarette boxes, and they don't mind the dirt. I'm really worried that they won't wash their hands properly and eat and get diarrhea."

Recently, the games of "cigarette cards" and "cigarette cards" have become more and more popular. The props come from cigarette boxes. Children fold the lids of cigarette boxes to make rectangular cards, put them on the ground and take turns to shoot. Whoever can turn the other person's "cigarette card" over can win their "cigarette card".

The "cigarette cards" in the children's hands come from various sources, and more and more parents, teachers and other sectors of society are beginning to worry about the potential risks of "cigarette cards".

The Beijing Tobacco Control Association issued a statement on June 30, saying that "cigarette cards" are a disguised carrier for spreading tobacco information. Primary school students' early exposure to tobacco trademarks may lead to psychological cues for trying to smoke. In addition, in order to get "cigarette cards", some students look for discarded cigarette boxes on the roadside or even rummage through trash cans, and their hands are easily contaminated by bacteria. The association recommends that "cigarette cards" be supervised and managed.

Experts interviewed said that from a psychological point of view, children have a strong herd mentality. Taking pictures of "cigarette cards" is a normal curiosity and game behavior for children, but the special commercial attributes of its material will produce a familiar effect and induce consumption for gamers, which needs to attract social attention and vigilance.

Primary school students are addicted to "cigarette cards"

It is easy to cause comparison and other problems

Ms. Li, who lives in Ninghe District, Tianjin, recently found that her son no longer does his homework seriously after school. He puts down his schoolbag and runs downstairs with an iron box.

"The child frequently urges his father to smoke and asks to leave the cigarette box to him. He also often picks up things with his classmates in the community and on the way home from school. When asked, he says he is looking for "treasures". He asks his family for money more often than before." Ms. Li said that she once thought that the child had developed an interest in cigarettes and even secretly learned to smoke.

After a few days of observation, Ms. Li found that the "treasure" the child was looking for everywhere was cigarette boxes, which he folded into "cigarette cards" and played with, and even spent money to buy "cigarette cards". Not only that, Ms. Li and several parents of children told reporters that several children in the same community had recently had a conflict because of taking pictures of "cigarette cards".

It turns out that there are other rules for the "cigarette card" game: the more expensive the cigarettes, the better the material of the cigarette box, and the more "gold content" the "cigarette card" has. When taking pictures of "cigarette cards", children will unconsciously compare the "cigarette cards" in their hands with each other, thus causing conflicts.

Coincidentally, Mr. Zhang, a parent of a primary school student in Langfang City, Hebei Province, told reporters that his child's schoolbag has always smelled of cigarettes recently, and he found many cigarette boxes in the schoolbag. Mr. Zhang thought that his child had learned to smoke and was very angry. After communicating with his child, he found out that the cigarette box was actually a "social tool". Many children like to get together to play. Whoever collects more "cigarette cards" and the more famous the brand is, the more likely he is to become the "king of children". For this reason, Mr. Zhang's child used his New Year's money to order a lot of "expensive" "cigarette cards" on a shopping platform.

The reporter found out that according to the price of cigarettes and the degree of market circulation, "cigarette cards" are divided into different levels. The reporter visited some stores around primary schools and found that many stores were selling "cigarette cards", generally one yuan a pack, and one pack contained about 10 "cigarette cards". Some "rare cards" even sold for dozens of yuan.

A child psychology researcher told reporters that most of the people who play "cigarette cards" are primary school students. Children at this stage have a strong interest and curiosity in new things. In addition, games occupy an important position in their daily lives. The colorful appearance of "cigarette cards", the novel folding techniques, and the excitement brought by winning or losing by shooting "cigarette cards" can easily attract primary school students. Children have a strong herd mentality. When they see other children playing, they want to integrate into such a "small circle".

"Shooting "cigarette cards" is a normal curiosity and game behavior for children, but the special commercial attributes of its material will produce a familiarity effect and consumption induction for players, which needs to arouse social attention and vigilance." The above researcher said.

Not only that, it is summer vacation now. During the visit, the reporter noticed that in the markets of some villages and towns, many vendors are selling "cigarette cards" in a concentrated manner-a piece of cloth is spread on the ground, and a large number of "cigarette cards" are placed on it. When many grandparents take their grandchildren to visit the market, they will stop for a long time in front of such vendors and pay for "cigarette cards".

Asking for cigarettes is also one of the ways for children to obtain "cigarette cards". Many interviewees said that if there are cigarettes on the table when they go out for dinner, a child will come over and ask "Have you finished smoking? Can you give him the cigarette box after you finish smoking?" This repetition not only affects the mood of the dinner, but also makes everyone quite worried about the physical and mental health of children: "What's wrong with children nowadays?"

There are many ways to obtain them

There is no age limit for purchase

The reporter searched for "cigarette cards" on the e-commerce platform, and the product pages that popped up were dazzling. Some stores have sales of more than 10,000 "cigarette cards". Many product pictures are marked with words such as "all manual inspection", "genuine original factory real card", "children's favorite", and some stores also have slogans such as "cultivate social skills" and "high probability of rare cards, mom no longer has to worry about me going out to pick up cigarette boxes".

Some merchants will emphasize that their "cigarette cards" are "fine" and "out of print" when selling "cigarette cards" wholesale. It is understood that a package containing 500 "cigarette cards" of various types costs hundreds of yuan. On some short video platforms, some self-media bloggers also promote "cigarette cards".

The reporter found in the comment area of these "cigarette cards" that when someone asked whether it was genuine, there was a message saying "authentic, very dirty, and there is still a smell of smoke on it". A store with high sales volume has a promotional page marked "brand new, clean, and hygienic". When the reporter asked how to ensure hygiene, the customer service said "all disinfected", but the reporter continued to ask how the "cigarette cards" were disinfected, and the customer service did not respond.

The "cigarette card" craze has caused concerns among many parents. Some parents said that children will define the value according to the variety of "cigarette cards", which can easily make them infected with the heart of comparison, and the winning and losing games are similar to disguised gambling. Some parents also believe that "cigarette cards" will bring psychological hints to children and induce them to smoke, and "the age limit should be set when selling them, just like selling cigarettes."

The reporter found that whether online or offline, the shops selling "cigarette cards" basically "accept all comers", and minors can buy them at will. Some online shop customer service said bluntly, "There is no age limit, and the platform has no requirements."

In this regard, Zhang Youde, a professor at the Institute of Social Governance of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, believes that from the perspective of the growth of minors, "cigarette cards" have the function of spreading tobacco information, and it is inappropriate to use them as a carrier for minors to play games and socialize. "Cigarette cards" are printed with cigarette information and have the smell of cigarettes, which poses a hidden danger of psychological cues for minors to try smoking. Some primary school students who play "cigarette cards" know cigarette brands well, spend large sums of money to buy "cigarette cards", and even rank their friends according to the value of "cigarette cards". These will bring bad values to minors and affect their physical and mental health development.

Huang Yan, a partner of Beijing Lufeng Law Firm, said that "cigarette cards" mainly come from cigarette packaging boxes. The act of manufacturing and selling "cigarette cards" constitutes an invisible promotion of tobacco brands, which will allow minors to contact and understand tobacco brands too early, which is not conducive to their physical and mental health. It violates the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors that "the production and sale of food, medicines, toys, utensils, game and entertainment equipment, amusement facilities, etc. for minors shall comply with national or industry standards and shall not endanger the personal safety and physical and mental health of minors; the producers of the above products shall indicate precautions in a prominent position, and those that do not indicate precautions shall not be sold."

The reporter noticed that on some second-hand platforms, some merchants marked "cigarette cards" with "no smoke, made by themselves".

In this regard, Huang Yan believes that if a merchant privately prints a registered tobacco trademark and makes a "cigarette card" for sale without obtaining the consent of the trademark registrant, it is suspected of infringing the trademark rights of tobacco manufacturers. The market supervision department can file a case for handling, and the trademark owner can require the infringer to bear civil liability for compensation for losses.

¡°Cigarette cards¡± have great potential risks

Many places have issued a ban initiative

According to public information, Mingming, a 9-year-old boy in Fuzhou, Fujian, recently had a lump on the back of his right hand. It was the size of a broad bean, felt cystic, and could slide. His parents took Mingming to the hospital for examination, and the doctor diagnosed it as a ganglion cyst. The cause of the disease was largely related to playing ¡°cigarette cards¡± - when patting ¡°cigarette cards¡±, the back of the hand needs to be arched, and the empty palm is repeatedly patted on the table until the card is overturned.

Lili, a primary school student in Tianjin, told reporters that it is mainly boys who play ¡°cigarette cards¡±. It is often seen in the community that a group of boys are lying on the ground patting ¡°cigarette cards¡±. ¡°The teacher forbids us to play. Once in a class meeting, the teacher said that some students patted ¡°cigarette cards¡± and broke their little fingers.¡±

A doctor said that the ¡°cigarette card¡± game may also bring other health risks. Children have delicate skin, and repeated heavy hitting and friction on the rough ground can easily cause damage and infection. Some children will search the trash cans in the community to get "cigarette cards", which is easy to be infected with bacteria or viruses.

Many parents also reported that their children's long-term addiction to "cigarette cards" not only affected their studies, but also developed a strong interest in smoking, which they are very worried about.

The various problems caused by "cigarette cards" have attracted the attention of relevant departments. In addition to the Beijing Tobacco Control Association's recommendation to supervise and manage "cigarette cards", in recent months, many places have launched relevant actions against the harm caused by "cigarette cards".

Relevant departments in Bozhou, Anhui, Zhuzhou, Hunan, Kunshan, Jiangsu and other places have carried out rectification actions to crack down on "cigarette cards" around campuses. Law enforcement personnel raided the business premises of merchants, popularized relevant legal knowledge to merchants, and publicized the harm that cigarette cards may cause to minors.

In addition, education departments in Tianshui, Gansu, Cangzhou, Hebei, Sanya, Hainan, Tai'an, Shandong and other places have issued reminders or initiatives to remind the risks and hidden dangers of "cigarette card" games and called on schools and parents to strengthen education and guidance.

On April 26, the Office of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration proposed the issue of "cigarette cards" and would work with market supervision and other departments to discourage convenience stores, supermarkets, and cultural and sports stores around campuses from selling cigarette boxes, "cigarette cards" and other items to minors. Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places have tightened their local supervision responsibilities, and adopted administrative interviews and sent supervision letters to require local Internet companies to independently clean up information on electronic cigarettes, "cigarette cards" and other products, and close down illegal sales stores. Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan and other places have strengthened the investigation of clues of counterfeit cigarette registered trademark "cigarette cards", traced the source of illegal use of cigarette registered trademarks to produce and sell "cigarette cards", and investigated legal responsibilities in accordance with the law.

How can we completely solve the problem of children's addiction to "cigarette cards"?

"In the urban-rural junction, there are more children playing "cigarette cards" than in big cities. Their parents are busy making a living, and some work away from home for a long time. They lack the company of their children and lack the cultivation of their interests and hobbies." Zhang Youde said that the "cigarette card" phenomenon reflects the singleness of children's interests and hobbies and the lack of outdoor activities during the critical period of growth.

He further analyzed that excessive reliance on a single form of game often reflects the narrowness of children's interests and hobbies. Contact with nature, interpersonal communication and physical exercise are essential for the development of children's nervous system and the formation of a sound personality. Parents and schools should work together to cultivate children's interests and hobbies and consciously guide them to participate in activities that are beneficial to their physical and mental health.

Huang Yan suggested that schools should carry out thematic publicity and education for students and parents, and guide students to use other cards with excellent content instead of "cigarette cards" to play games; e-commerce platforms should take the initiative to remove "cigarette cards" and reduce the circulation of "cigarette cards"; news media should continue to report on the potential harm of "cigarette card" games, enhance the public's awareness of the harm of tobacco, jointly purify the environment, and protect the physical and mental health of minors.

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