Financial Mail and Business Day

Minister drops no butt in tobacco bill

• Companies can be forced to reveal product info • Little concession to nontobacco products

Tamar Kahn Health & Science Writer

Health minister Joe Phaahla has stood firm against industry pressure to take a softer stance on new generation tobacco products and tabled a bill in parliament that not only proposes tough new antismoking rules but grants virtually no concessions to manufacturers of devices such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.

In a move likely to trigger strong push-back from the industry, the minister has introduced new measures in the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill that give him powers to demand that tobacco companies disclose information about their products, ranging from research to the content of the products.

The bill has been in the pipeline since 2018, frustrating public health experts who say SA’s tobacco control measures have fallen behind global best practice. It is staunchly opposed by the tobacco and e-cigarette industries, which are expected to step up their campaigns against it as the bill makes its way through parliament.

The prevalence of smoking in SA fell after the government implemented the Tobacco Products Control Act, dropping from a high of more than 30% in the early 1990s to a low of about 20% in 2016, according to a socioeconomic impact assessment accompanying the bill. But in recent years smoking rates have picked up, necessitating stricter antitobacco measures, says the socioeconomic impact assessment.

An estimated 29% of the SA population aged 15 or above in 2021, according to the Gats-SA survey conducted by the Medical Research Council.

The socioeconomic impact assessment sets out the economic costs of tobacco, which is a major risk factor in noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and the leading cause of lung cancer. Tobacco-related illness cost SA’s economy R42.3bn in 2016, or 0.97% of GDP, in direct health costs, lost productivity and premature deaths, says the socioeconomic impact assessment.

The tobacco industry paid only R12bn in excise tax in the

same year, and so for every rand received by the SA Revenue Service (Sars), society lost R3.43, it said.

The bill tightens current anti-smoking rules set out in the Tobacco Products Control Act, which it will repeal, and extends the government’s regulatory reach to include electronic nicotine delivery devices and related products such as nicotine pouches.

The bill’s ambit is broader than the 2018 version, and gives the government greater capacity to regulate future tobacco or nicotinerelated products, said the director of the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research Lekan Ayo-Yusuf.

“The bill takes account of potential industry innovation. It is future-proof,” AyoYusuf said.

The new bill proposes:

● Entirely smoke-free areas in indoor public places and certain outdoor places, which the minister can determine;

● A ban on vending machine sales;

● The introduction of plain packaging with graphic warnings that must take up at least 65% of the cover;

● A ban on point of sale advertising; and

● A ban on the sale of e-cigarettes, bringing it in line with the general ban on tobacco sales to children.

The bill will go first to the speaker of parliament, who will then refer it to parliament’s joint tagging committee. It is expected to be tagged by parliament as a section 76 bill since it affects the provinces.

It will first be considered by parliament’s portfolio committee on health, which is expected to hold public hearings and invite written submissions.

If the National Assembly assents to the bill, it will be sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence. The assembly can, however, override the NCOP’s decision if it has passed the bill with a twothirds majority.

FRONT PAGE

en-za

2022-09-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://bd.pressreader.com/article/281560884672784

Arena Holdings PTY