SA is lagging global efforts to counter tobacco industry marketing and regulate a generation of new products, says a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A total of 110 countries now insist that tobacco companies label their products with graphic health warnings and 25 countries require plain packaging aimed at reducing the appeal of branded cigarettes, but SA is not yet among them. And SA is among the last 60 countries that have yet to ban or regulate e-cigarettes, according to the “Global Tobacco Epidemic 2025” report, released at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin.
The conference is the leading international gathering of its kind and has attracted academics, health professionals, nongovernmental organisations and public officials to take stock of the latest science and share strategies for countering the influence of the tobacco industry. Tobacco accounts for more than 7-million deaths a year, according to the WHO.
The report assessed countries’ progress in implementing six measures ranging from advertising bans to protecting people from second-hand tobacco smoke, which the WHO recommended as the best evidence-based measures to counter the harms of tobacco. An estimated 29.4% of SA’s population over the age of 15 years either smoke or use smokeless tobacco products, according to the 2021 “Global Adult Tobacco Survey”.
The department of health has been advocating stricter tobacco rules and regulation of new generation products for almost a decade, but enabling legislation is only now being considered by parliament. MPs are mulling the draft Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, which seeks to regulate all these products in exactly the same way.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said “the strongest possible measures” should be implemented against vapes. “A lot of research has been undertaken highlighting the dangers posed by vapes to the lungs … and the potential health conditions that can arise after use,” he said on the sidelines of the conference.
Ireland follows EU regulations on vapes that ban sales to anyone under 18, and is preparing to ban disposable vapes, which have been prohibited in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK from June 1.
The draft tobacco bill proposes introducing graphic health warnings and plain packaging for all tobacco and nicotine-containing products, including e-cigarettes.
Countries must act decisively to prevent the proliferation of attractively packaged tobacco and other nicotine products and ensure that tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
WHO director-general
Graphic health warnings aim to reduce the appeal of tobacco and related products, motivate people to quit and deter young people from taking up the habit.
“Countries must act decisively to prevent the proliferation of attractively packaged tobacco and other nicotine products and ensure that tobacco control policies remain robust in the face of industry interference,” says WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the foreword to the report.
While striking gains in reducing smoking have been made in many countries that have introduced graphic health warnings for cigarettes, packaging for smokeless tobacco, nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes are poorly regulated, warned the WHO.
“Health information can save lives. Pictures save lives. Policies save lives, but only when they’re, implemented, enforced and protected from [tobacco industry] interference,” said WHO director of health promotion Rüdiger Krech.
SA’s tobacco legislation requires manufacturers to place written health warnings on packaging, but this does not apply to new generation products or to cigarettes sold as single sticks. The report shows that mandatory health warnings cover on average 20% of tobacco packaging in SA.
SA is also falling short on the WHO’s recommendation to reduce smoking by making tobacco products more expensive. Branded tobacco products are just as affordable as they were in 2014, the report shows.
• Kahn’s reporting trip was sponsored by the conference organisers, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
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