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Electronic cigarettes are said to pose many health risks to both users and non-users.
This was heard during a webinar hosted by the department of health to unpack various aspects of the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill, which was recently approved by cabinet and submitted to Parliament.
The webinar focused on the health risks associated with the use of electronic delivery systems and the water-pipe; tobacco industry tactics; existing and proposed regulation of novel and new generation products in SA.
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Dr Catherine Egbe, a specialist scientist for the SA Medical Research Council's alcohol, tobacco, and other drug research unit, said e-cigarette use had consequences for asthma sufferers which was of concern for respiratory medicine and public health.
She said the common denominator between electronic cigarettes and traditional cigarette was nicotine.
Dr Egbe said e-cigarette contained ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs, and flavourants such as diacetyl a chemical linked to serious lung disease. The danger also includes heavy metals such as nickel, tin, arsenic, cadmium that can lead to injury as a result of a battery explosion when a user is smoking.
Dr Egbe said:
She added that e-cigarettes were not 95% safer than traditional cigarettes as being propagated and they pose many health hazards to users and non-users.
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“E-cigarettes are not effective in helping smokers to quit for good. Many smokers trying to quit by using e-cigarettes end up being dual users of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. Meanwhile dual users have higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and other tobacco-related harms,” Dr Egbe said.
Another speaker Professor Lekan Ayo Yusuf, who is a professor and the head of the University of Pretoria's School of Health Systems and Public Health, said they had been monitoring tobacco industries for the last 10 years.
Proffessor Yusuf said:
He went on to say that more countries need to make smoking cessation support more widely available and effectively regulate these emerging products as bans seem not to have been very effective.
“Prevention through regulation rather harm reduction should remain the focus especially in Africa where the cigarette smoking epidemic has not matured,” he said.
