The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, which was opened for public comment last week, has left the vaping industry gasping for air, fearing the proposed regulations would drive users into the black market.
Given that there are no laws or regulations governing vaping products in South Africa, the bill is expected to lump cigarettes and vaping into one category. This means the same smoking restrictions apply to both.
In a statement this week, the Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA) said it agreed that sensible regulations should be adopted to control youth vaping.
VPASA also agreed that the need to protect young people while reducing smoking harm should inform these regulations.
VPASA CEO Asanda Gcoyi said the current version of the bill was not grounded in harm reduction and would do more harm than good in the fight against youth vaping and smoking.
“This requires an open mind that recognises that smokers are addicted to nicotine, and for those who do not have the will or the means to quit, the objective should be to give them tools to reduce the harm derived from smoking,” Gcoyi said.
“Not only will the bill create a black market for vaping products, thus increasing the chances of young people accessing vaping products, but the ban on communications and any form of marketing of vape products will also make it staggeringly difficult for the vape industry to convince smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives to smoking.”
VPASA further said the ban would condemn those smokers who cannot or do not wish to quit and wrongly believe that vaping is as harmful, if not more harmful than smoking, to a life of smoking.
In the process, it will give the tobacco industry an unassailable position as the only nicotine product available to nicotine addicts, with all the known harms that come with smoking, said the association.
Last Wednesday, the portfolio committee on health gave the public until August 4 to make inputs, citing that the regulations seek to deter people, especially children and youth, from using tobacco products, encourage existing users to quit, and protect non-smokers from tobacco smoke exposure.
According to the Health Department, evolving scientific evidence points to the harmful effects of use and exposure to emissions from electronic nicotine delivery systems and related products.
Thus, the department proposed that there should be a precautionary approach to the regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems.
Gcoyi said his association remains hopeful that parliament would keep an open mind in reviewing the science, which has overwhelmingly found that vaping is less harmful than smoking and should be adopted as part of an overall anti-smoking toolkit.
“Thus, parliament should go beyond simply calling for comments. It should also undertake an extensive review of the literature on vaping in order to arrive at a balanced policy not influenced by the ideological preferences of the anti-vaping lobby in South Africa.”
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