A pro-vaping lobby has repeated its call on the government to regard the products as tools to help smokers quit and to rethink its tax regime.
Kurt Yeo, co-founder of Vaping Saved My Life (VSML), told Business Times the group had conducted a recent survey of 519 people via Facebook that found, among other things, nearly three out of four of them had started vaping as a way to quit or reduce smoking.
“It’s become very clear that when people start vaping, a large percentage of them who had started at a very high level of nicotine managed to wean themselves down the nicotine strength ladder,” he said.
Smokers who wanted to quit should aim to reduce their daily nicotine intake to 2mg-4mg, and vapes would help to achieve this.
Parliament is processing the Tobacco & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill — introduced three years ago — which proposes a ban on the marketing of cigarette alternatives, limiting their accessibility and regulating their packaging.
This year the government raised the tax on vaping liquid to R3.18/ml, regardless of nicotine content. When a tax of R2.90 was first introduced two years ago, the industry said this could cut revenue 26% from estimated sales of R1.7bn in 2021.
Yeo said it made more sense to introduce a tax that increases with the potency of nicotine in a product.
Rather tax the nicotine strength than the whole volume of the product itself. So the higher the nicotine, the more the tax you pay
— Kurt Yeo, VSML
“There should be nicotine caps on products. Definitely. And that was one of the biggest arguments we placed in front of Treasury when they were talking about the tax, to say rather tax the nicotine strength than the whole volume of the product itself. So the higher the nicotine, the more the tax you pay. And that incentivises people to move down the nicotine [ladder] even more.”
He said while nicotine was addictive, it had not been proven to be deadly and was regarded by the World Health Organisation as an essential element in replacement therapy for smokers.
“There is nothing more efficient in delivering nicotine than combustion through a cigarette. When you consume nicotine through other methods, the absorption is significantly reduced. So when it comes to, for example, vaping, only half of that nicotine that you’ve got in there gets absorbed.”
Zanele Mthembu, country lead for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, said the NGO wholeheartedly supported the Tobacco & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill.
Citing a study by the University of Cape Town’s research unit on the economics of excisable products, she said such stipulations as plain packaging and graphic warnings had a significant impact on buyer and consumer behaviour.
“The plain packets are perceived to be less desirable than branded packets ... Therefore, people would not be keen to buy the products [and] they are more effective in discouraging people from smoking,” Mthembu said.
Lungile Mavundla, policy and advocacy officer at the National Council Against Smoking, said young people who had never smoked traditional cigarettes were increasingly taking up e-cigarettes and vapes. The brands used marketing strategies that were banned for tobacco companies.
“These products are advertised and promoted through various avenues, including the use of flavours … We also see that the use of social media influencers is quite prominent … We see the use of event sponsorship through youth events.”
Mavundla warned against the use of “brand stretching” — the practice of selling multiple products to the consumer and using one product as an incentive for the consumption of another.
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