All forms of smoking carry their own risk
TOBACCO is a legal product that became available through what some have called a “historical accident”. It became widely diffused before its health effects were well understood, and over several decades scientists have made known to the world its devastating effects on health.
While there is a steady decline in tobacco use and stronger policies are being implemented globally to curb the tobacco epidemic, the industry, desperate to maintain its market and to make profit, continues to introduce new ways of consuming tobacco and nicotine.
“Safer”’ cigarettes did not start today; ‘’light’’ and ‘’low-tar” cigarettes were marketed as having lower health risks, and these descriptors have since been prohibited in South Africa and all over the world after it was shown that they were not. Today’s youth and young adults in South Africa and beyond are increasingly using hookah pipes, hubbly bubbly or shisha. Even though these are packaged colourfully and flavoured, they are still tobacco.
Shisha users are exposed to the same toxic chemicals cigarette users are exposed to. In fact, some harmful substances are found in higher concentrations in these items, and shisha users may absorb more of the toxic substances than cigarette smokers do.
These are still tobacco products and they contain the same harmful chemicals found in cigarettes, including lead, nicotine, cadmium, formaldehyde and benzene.
More recent has been the emergence of electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems, commonly known as e-cigarettes or vape products. They are not tobacco products, but contain some of the toxic substances in cigarettes and hookah pipes.
They also share the same manufacturers; the top four producers of e-cigarettes or vape products are major tobacco companies: Altria group, previously known as Philip Morris Companies, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco.
These products have been marketed as safer alternatives to tobacco products, but the World Health Organization (WHO) cautions that there is no adequate science to back this claim.
A major debate has been that e-cigarettes have fewer toxins. The fundamental problem is that fewer toxins do not automatically equate to reduced health risks, or tangible health benefits, especially considering that e-cigarettes produce their own set of unique toxic substances different to ones found in cigarettes.
The long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are still unknown, but short-term use has been linked to lung damage, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chest pains, mouth ulcers, asthma and a high risk of stroke, conditions which are also closely associated with cigarette use.
The bottom line is that all these products contain toxic substances that are detrimental to health.
While we continue to discourage the use of cigarettes and improve the enforcement of laws to make certain that hookah pipes are treated as the tobacco products that they are, the government must act quickly to pass the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, which will regulate e-cigarettes or vape products.