(Yicai Global) Aug. 5 -- Shares in electronic cigarette makers RLX Technology and Smoore International Holdings tumbled today after Chinese state media issued a report saying that many minors are still able to buy e-cigarettes despite the ban that was introduced three years ago as a lot of vendors do not check their age.

RLX Technology’s share price [NYSE:RLX] closed down 4.95 percent at USD4.61 yesterday. Smoore International Holdings [HKG:6969] dropped 1.92 percent to finish at HKD38.30 (USD5.93) today. Earlier in the day it had tumbled 7.8 percent to HKD36.

E-cigarettes are a potential safety hazard to the young and more needs to be done to enforce the ban on sales to minors, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Many merchants do not verify the age of those who buy vaping products.

The news wiped out a 15 percent gain in RLX Tech’s stock price in pre-market trading after its parent firm Relx Tech said yesterday that it had been given the go-ahead to conduct China’s first e-cigarette clinical trials on humans to show that vaping is less harmful than tobacco products.

Earlier experiments on mice have shown e-cigarettes to not be as cancer causing as conventional cigarettes but there have not been any human trials yet, Beijing Daily reported earlier.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor