Up in smoke: vaping feels the heat of the law

E-cigarettes could go up in clouds of smoke if new tobacco laws get the nod and "heat-not-burn" tobacco devices take off in South Africa.

Health experts around the world have backed e-cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes based on studies to date, but a draft bill due out within months takes a hard line.

"We believe e-cigarettes are almost as dangerous as cigarettes and we want to strengthen regulations to deal with them almost the same as tobacco," said a health ministry spokesman.

Although e-cigarettes are growing in popularity, there are only an estimated 300,000 "vapers" compared to seven million smokers in South Africa.

Vapers inhale an aerosol with flavourings and different strengths of nicotine.

The vapours release fewer toxins than combustible cigarettes and have less nicotine, making vaping less addictive and harmful than smoking.

Savera Kalideen, executive director of the National Council Against Smoking, said e-cigarettes were less harmful but not harmless. "E-cigarettes do not have no toxins, just fewer toxins. It's like jumping off the building from the fourth floor, not the 10th floor."

Vaping has increased globally despite restrictions in at least 13 countries. Tobacco giants are investing heavily in e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn alternatives. These battery-powered devices - set for "explosive growth" according to a recent US study - heat tobacco to about 260°C to create an inhalable tobacco aerosol. They are available in a limited number of countries so far, having been introduced first in Japan.

Study co-author Mark Dredze, an associate professor in computer science at Johns Hopkins University, said: "Heat-not-burn products have quickly become insanely popular. Two years ago there were essentially no [internet] queries in Japan for heat-not-burn tobacco, but now there are between 5.9 and 7.5 million each month."

Tobacco control researchers needed to turn their attention to such new tobacco products, he recommended.

Studies on the pros and cons of e-cigarettes are regularly released, the latest reporting that vaping may trigger a damaging immune response and increase the risk of lung disease.

Other research this month, however, found that replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes would avert between 1.6million and 6.6million deaths over 10 years in the US.

Overall evidence in the past 10 years has found that e-cigarettes are an effective tool to help smokers to quit.

Cape Town banker Albaitulah Petersen, 25, said that when he started vaping, he stopped smoking completely after smoking a pack a day from age 16. "I tried a cigarette after I switched and didn't even smoke half of it."

Over-regulation would kill the vaping industry, said the director of the Vapour Products Association of South Africa, Kabir Kaleechum.

"It is like putting the worst product in the same basket as the least harmful product, or comparing a wolf to a sheep," he said.

Kaleechum, a director of leading brand Twisp, said flavoured vaping liquids were designed to appeal to smokers to make quitting easier.

Opponents of e-cigarettes contend, however, that the flavours are designed to attract youngsters.

A recent study two showed that teenagers who vape liquids with high nicotine concentrations are more likely to become smokers.