Warning against vaping regulation

The government’s aim of regulating tobacco-free nicotine alternatives such as vapes in the same way that it regulates cigarettes runs the risk of worsening the tobacco consumption health crisis and driving first-time smokers directly to tobacco.

This is according to Quit Like Sweden (QLS), an organisation campaigning for governments worldwide to incorporate harm reduction into their country’s tobacco-related health challenge.

QLS founding director Suley Castro said South Africa’s approach to nicotine product control could peddle misconceptions about products that have been proven to assist smokers with quitting or reducing harmful smoking effects.

“What we usually suggest at events … is that it’s not regulated under the same banner as traditional cigarettes because they are way safer. So if you are also regulating those products under the same banner as cigarettes, the message that you are passing to consumers — which is the people you are trying to help — is that these products are the same, and this is already a big problem,” she said.

At a discussion in Cape Town, she said Sweden’s approach, while unique to its own circumstances, showed that alternatives such as snus, heating systems and vapes had led the Scandinavian country to have the lowest smoking prevalence in the world at 5.3%.

Sweden’s openness to the use of these products empowered the country to reduce the consumption of tobacco as well as mortality.

“They [Sweden] also achieved the lowest tobacco-related deaths. How did they get there? They embraced a pragmatic, human-centred approach to harm reduction. I like to call it a holistic approach because … the road to quitting is unique to each individual.”

The Tobacco Product and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill is being considered by parliament’s portfolio committee on health. Seeking to reduce the harm caused by tobacco and protect the rights of non-smokers, the bill proposes a complete ban on the advertising of tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vapes; and the removal of vending machines selling tobacco products.

Castro said South Africa should learn from Sweden’s legislative flexibility rather than her native Brazil’s banning of all tobacco alternatives, which did not reduce consumption but led to illicit cartels dominating the sale of these alternative products. 

Kurt Yeo, founder of the organisation Vaping Saved My Life, told Business Times that allowing people who are trying to quit access to more options would enhance South Africa’s chances of success at reducing tobacco harm.

“Sweden became smoke-free with the help of safer alternatives, but they also had very good regulations as well as policies to help people quit smoking. They had smoking cessation programmes, educational programmes and good regulations that were enforced. But what tips countries past that is the introduction of a substitute that is less harmful and … a way to help people quit smoking tobacco.”

Yeo said vaping alone would not solve the problem in South Africa due to the unaffordability of these devices for most smokers, but products such as nicotine patches could become part of the toolkit to reduce tobacco consumption.

Asked whether companies producing vapes were sometimes reckless in their product packaging and marketing, using bright colours and flavours appealing to youngsters, he agreed that some of the marketing has been inappropriate.

However, he said the flavours should stay as that was part of the appeal for people who were trying to quit tobacco and product enhancement could go hand-in-hand with harm reduction, as Coca-Cola successfully did when introducing its sugar-free version Coke Zero.

“I think some of the marketing practices out there are inappropriate, sometimes gross. It’s very easy to see why one would think it is attracting the youth. It’s as plain as day. So, I think there needs to be some kind of regulation around how that is dealt with.

“In terms of flavours, I have to say do not touch flavours. And there is a very good reason behind that. Flavours keep the new vaper and the current vaper interested in the product. The only thing I would say is whatever flavours are used are safe.”