Citizens urged to sign petition for vaping products to be regulated!

In light of increasing reports of e-cigarette-associated lung illnesses across the country, the Vaping Saved My Life (VSML) campaign calls for citizens to sign a petition for vaping products to be regulated separately from tobacco products.

Vaping Saved My Life is a consumer advocacy group with the exclusive voice to promote tobacco harm reduction by means of electronic nicotine delivery systems.

The advocacy group also represents a number of people who have quit smoking by trying vaping as a healthier alternative.

This organisation says it is alarmed by rapid rise of death toll in South Africa, where over 42 000 people lose their lives every year, as a result of harmful effects of tobacco products.

Vaping nicotine is likely to be at least 95% less harmful than tobacco-based products such as cigarettes, cigars, bidis and kreteks.

Touching on the impacts of tobacco products, VSML says that there’s another alternative to save lives, and this has to go with citizens penning down their signatures in order for the vaping products to be regulated.

“While regulation of the sector is important, the benefits offered by vaping are too important for government to adopt a ‘cut and paste’ approach that has been used to deal with tobacco products,” said the advocacy group.

“With South Africa, looking at ways to resuscitate the economy, while creating jobs and improving other socio-economic indicators, there has never been a better time to adopt innovative and creative solutions. 

The opportunity also exists to look at options which have strong returns on investment, including on those which support government’s health agenda.

“One of the options to be considered should be the promotion of vaping as a potentially risk-reduced alternative to the consumption of tobacco-based products,” the group further said, on redressing solutions to revive the country’s economy with the vaping products.

The advocacy group strongly emphasised that the vaping sector can support economic growth in many ways. 

“In this regard, a study commissioned by the Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA) in 2021 looked into the economic impact the industry has made locally, including its contribution to GDP and employment. 

“According to this study, more than 350,000 South Africans currently use vapour products, while the sector creates thousands of jobs and contributes directly, and indirectly to the public purse through taxes. 

Importantly, the study finds that the sector has indirectly contributed R1.09 billion to the country’s GDP,” the group detailed further.

The organisation said it is in this call, where they launched the “Vaping Saved My Life” campaign, aimed at providing important educational information to consumers around vaping: the benefits, the current science and addressing some of the proposed myths associated with vaping.

The campaign also aims to create sufficient awareness around vaping so that it is not regulated in the same category as tobacco products. 

“The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems (CTPEDS) Bill has been published which proposes vaping products to be defined as tobacco products, resulting in vaping products being regulated in the same manner as tobacco products,” VSML said.

“We have been engaging our stakeholders on this important issue and would therefore like to find mutually beneficial solutions that ensure that the choice to vape and avoid the harmful effects of tobacco products are available, to the thousands of people who have adopted this option and to the others who may be considering it. 

We would also like to encourage people to visit the Vaping Saved My Life website and social media pages to sign the petition to regulate vaping separately from tobacco products and add their voices to this campaign.

It is not just about saving the vaping industry, but also about collectively finding solutions that serve the greater good of the people of South Africa,” addressed Kurt Yeo, Co-Founder of Vaping Saved My Life.

To help normalise the conversations around vaping, Vaping Saved My Life has collaborated with a group of cigarette smokers who have been participating in a 90-day-challenge to switch to vaping, since February, when the campaign kicked off. 

The campaign aims to encourage a less harmful alternative to smoking. In this 90 day challenge, the participants have been documenting their journey on social media – including the good and the bad. So far, they are all progressing well in this journey.

The campaign is also supported by billboards placed around the country – encouraging the vaping community to support the campaign and sign the petition.

To sign the petition, please visit the following link: https://vsmlpetition.web.app/