The vaping and e-cigarette industry says there has been inadequate consultation over the new tobacco control bill passed by cabinet last week, amid claims the industry was denied access to the draft bill last year.
The new Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, which still needs to go through a parliamentary process for approval, seeks to regulate e-cigarettes similarly to cigarettes.
The proposed bill gives the health minister enormous powers to ban outdoor and workplace cigarette smoking in certain areas and prohibits cigarette smoking in private homes if children or employees such as domestic workers are present.
The bill also gives the health minister the power to fully regulate the vaping industry including the advertising, packaging and materials used, as well as the weight and volume of e-cigarettes. Vaping products would also require health warnings.
Currently, vaping products are not regulated and, unlike cigarettes, can be advertised. Vaping products can be sold online, which the new bill aims to prohibit.
Head of the Vapour Products Association of SA (VPASA) Asanda Gcoyi said when the vaping industry asked the health department for sight of the draft bill in May last year, it was told that it was not necessary as it was almost the same as the bill of 2018.
But when released last week, the bill was more than double the length and substantially different.
“Fast forward to September 2022. We’ve got a different bill.” said Gcoyi.
She said the industry should have been consulted at every stage of the process to offer input.
“In the bill, the health department has added the word extensive consultations, which was deliberate because they wanted to get the bill passed through cabinet.” But there have not been extensive consultations, she said.
Health department spokesperson Foster Mohale told Business Day it spent four days consulting with the e-cigarette industry in 2021. When asked why it didn’t have sight of the draft, he said there was still time for the vaping industry to comment on the bill in the parliamentary process, which allows for debate.
Gcoyi said the vaping industry is open to regulation. "[But] we want a fair and transparent process to unfold, which, unfortunately, is not happening at the moment”.
She said: “Regulation e-cigarettes cannot be treated the same way as tobacco, because e-cigarettes are completely different to tobacco and do not cause the same harm.”
According to UK agency Public Health England, vaping is less harmful than ordinary cigarettes as e-cigarettes deliver nicotine without burning tobacco, which causes harm to lungs.
But the proliferation of vaping stores has concerned SA scientists as they say e-cigarettes are normalising nicotine addiction and flavours such as watermelon and vanilla make smoking appealing to young people.
Catherine Egbe, a senior scientist at the Medical Research Council, presented evidence to the media on Tuesday from a study called GATS-SA that vaping did not help people quit smoking. Those who quit returned to smoking after six months, she said.
She said the vaping industry was targeting the youth to create a nicotine addiction. “The bill, when passed into law, will prevent the industry from targeting young people to get them to become nicotine addicts.”
However, Gcoyi said: “If we say we have a youth vaping epidemic in SA, where are the numbers that show this? Currently, we are dealing with anecdotal information.”
The new bill proposes banning all indoor smoking, even in enclosed spaces in restaurants and workplaces, and also bans smoking in sectional titles such as flats and complexes if the smoking unreasonably affects the enjoyment of a non-smoker. It allows owners of complexes or buildings to ban all smoking outdoors on their property if they choose.
It bans smoking in private cars, when a non-smoker is present, and enforces plain unbranded packaging of cigarettes.
Zanele Mthembu, public health policy and development consultant at antismoking NGO Protect Our Next, said banning smoking in homes, especially if children present, was not overreach or unconstitutional.
She said the government had an obligation to protect children from harm.
The bill will move SA laws into line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to which the country is a signatory.
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