Vapes are safe alternatives to smoking. And other lies they told us
The new normal: taking a puff on any of the latest electronic devices in a shopping centre where smoking isn't allowed.
Big Tobacco is good at adapting. With fewer people smoking cigarettes globally, the industry has pivoted the playbook towards electronic devices such as vapes and heated tobacco products (HTP).
The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tobacco Epidemic report, which was released at this week's World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, shows how graphic warnings on packaging and anti-tobacco campaigns can fight against the tobacco industry influence machine, including these new product lines.
It is a timely release for South Africa. Our own bill, meant to better regulate tobacco products, including new ones such as electronic delivery systems, is finally — nearly seven years after first being gazetted — in front of parliament's health committee hearing oral submissions from stakeholders. The WHO report shows what we are up against.
Pages from the playbook
The report lays out how Big Tobacco's well-honed tactics — and some new ones — are being used to sell new products and keep legislation to slow sales down at bay.
Among these are co-opting the term harm reduction — an evidence-based way to help lower the effects of drug use or risky behaviours on someone's health — to push the newer products as 'safer alternatives' to traditional cigarettes.
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