SA’s biggest association for independent pharmacies has backed the government’s plan to introduce laws to regulate e-cigarettes, saying the move is long overdue.
Parliament is holding public hearings on the draft Tobacco Products & Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, which seeks to introduce stricter rules for cigarettes and enforce the same controls on other nicotine-containing products such as vapes.
Earlier this week the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) told MPs that vapes could be useful for adults who wanted to quit smoking, but the products needed to be regulated to protect children and ensure consumers were not purchasing products with dangerously high levels of nicotine.
E-cigarette users inhale vapour created by a battery-powered device that heats a liquid containing nicotine and a range of potentially harmful additives such as flavours, scents and colours. These ingredients are not necessarily listed on the label, as the products are not subjected to official scrutiny.
“We need to know exactly what is in vaping liquids,” said ICPA chair Jackie Maimin.
The Pharmacy Council has prohibited the sale of vapes in pharmacies but does allow them to sell nicotine-containing products that have been registered with the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) as medicines intended to help smokers kick the habit. These products do not require a prescription and include gum, lozenges and patches with regulated levels of nicotine.
“In low doses it is a medicine. In high doses it is a poison,” said Maimin, suggesting the nicotine content of vapes be limited to the amount in an average pack of cigarettes (36mg), with a maximum concentration of 3mg/ml.
The regulations for e-cigarettes should require vape liquids to be sold in containers with childproof lids, in line with World Health Organisation recommendations, she said.
The ICPA supported legislation aimed at ensuring the safety of users and non-users, she said, and urged MPs to approve the bill’s provisions banning the use of vapes in workplaces and public spaces.
Though electronic nicotine delivery devices produced fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes, they were not entirely risk-free, and non-users should be protected from exposure to the vapour exhaled by users, she said.
The ICPA recommended a complete ban on flavours in vapes, as they were aimed at attracting children, said Maimin. “Bubblegum, mango, cotton candy [candyfloss] — they’re not just flavours, they’re bait,” she said.
Regulating vapes would facilitate data collection on their use and the health effects on SA consumers, she said.
MPs have consistently questioned parties making submissions on the bill about their reliance on studies from other countries, and have been told in response that there is limited SA research on e-cigarettes.
The ICPA supported the use of vapes as smoking cessation tools but was concerned about the lack of data on the long-term health effects of vaping, said Maimin. “Remember, the 1950s promoted smoking for young mothers,” she said.
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