Putting e-cigarettes in boxes
EXPERT: BANNING, REGULATING AND TAXING THREE WAYS TO DEAL WITH THESE PRODUCTS
Concerns about the role the tobacco industry is playing in the market.
Opinions differ on how to regulate electronic cigarettes. But dozens of countries are taking action. In Africa, Kenya already taxes these products and South Africa is preparing to follow.
E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, which has harmful health effects. But they often contain highly addictive nicotine and have their own negative health risks.
Some people use e-cigarettes when they are trying to stop smoking combustible cigarettes.
In the US, studies have shown young nonsmokers are taking up e-cigarettes in growing numbers. About 1.3 million adolescents started smoking e-cigarettes between 2017 and 2018. Hospitalisations and deaths as a result of lung injury also rose.
The market for e-cigarettes is expanding, with a rapid increase in the number and variety being sold. In early 2014, there were already 466 e-cigarette brands. A study done four years ago in South Africa showed that 2% of adult women and 3% of men were using e-cigarettes. This compared with 7% of adult women and 37% of adult men smoking tobacco.
E-cigarettes are unregulated in SA, yet their marketing and sale is proliferating on online platforms. This suggests the number of e-cigarette consumers in SA is likely to grow in line with global trends.
The country can learn from its experience of implementing tobacco controls. In 1990, the government introduced warnings on cigarette packets and banned smoking on public transport. It also raised taxes on cigarettes. Between 1990 and 2012, real excise taxes rose by 522%. Over this period, adult smoking rates dropped from 33% to 20%. A similar approach should be adopted to deter nonsmokers from starting to use e-cigarettes.
E-cigarettes don’t fall under the current Tobacco Products Control Act. Technically, they fall under the Medicines and Related Substances Act of 1965. They are supposed to be registered with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and sold by prescription only. In practice, they are not marketed as a way to stop smoking, but as a consumer product.
The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, published by the health department suggests regulating e-cigarettes as tobacco products. There are three possible ways to deal with e-cigarettes: banning them, regulating them and taxing them. Which avenue to pursue should be based on data about user behaviour and long-term effects on health as different types of regulation may have different effects on behaviour.
Last year, e-cigarette sales were banned in 28 countries. The ban is sometimes based on the concern that reintroducing a nicotine product into the market might contribute to normalising combustible cigarette use.
There are also concerns about the role the tobacco industry is playing in the market. Some cigarette makers are buying stakes in e-cigarette companies.
The national department of health is considering the draft Bill, that includes e-cigarettes as tobacco products, opening the door to being able to regulate and tax them. This should become law as soon as possible to prevent a rise in demand. And it should be accompanied by a clear policy from National Treasury on the structure and level of taxing e-cigarettes.
Laura Rossouw is a senior lecturer and health economist, School of Economics and Finance, University of the Witwatersrand.
Republished from TheConversation