- Last week, senators raised concern over the increased use of e-cigarettes by students in primary and secondary schools.
- Nominated Senator Catherine Mumma tabled a motion that will require the government to have regulation of e-cigarettes.
Image: VICTOR IMBOTO
A lobby has expressed concern that the proposed e-cigarette ban could reignite the smoking crisis in the country.
The motion put forward by senators to ban or highly regulate e-cigarettes could undo years of progress in smoking cessation.
This is according to the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA) which warned that such legislation would not only send former smokers back to their old habits but also deny current smokers a proven way to quit.
This comes as senators raised concern over the increased use of e-cigarettes by students in primary and secondary schools.
In a motion that was tabled by Nominated Senator Catherine Mumma, the senators urged the government to have regulation of e-cigarettes.
According to the Senate, Section 2 of the Act does not contemplate non-tobacco products and therefore lacks restrictions on the use, advertising, promotion and sponsorship, or packaging and labelling of synthetic nicotine in the form of e-cigarettes.
This has resulted in an increase in the popularity and consumption of e-cigarettes among the youth including minor children.
The legislators want the government to establish rules to govern the production, sale, advertising and consumption of synthetic nicotine, and control the illicit trade of counterfeit products.
Joseph Magero, Chairman of the Campaign for Safer Alternatives (CASA) said e-cigarette bans are not just misguided but they are deadly.
“E-cigarettes provide smokers with a way out of tobacco smoking. Cutting off this lifeline will have dangerous repercussions for public health,” he said.
Magero said leading international scientists have repeatedly found e-cigarettes to be the most effective tool for helping smokers quit.
A new analysis released last week by Cochrane of over 150,000 smokers found that people who used e-cigarettes were up to three times as likely to quit than those who didn’t use a smoking cessation tool.
“The death toll in Kenya from smoking stands at 8,000 lives per year. We need to be doing everything in our power to support smokers to quit, not blocking their path with misguided bans. That includes ensuring access to proven quit aids like e-cigarettes,” Magero said.
The lobby group expressed concern about the conflation of e-cigarettes with tobacco products.
They added that e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco and therefore don’t expose people to at least 15 types of cancer caused by smoking.
“This proposal doesn’t just lack nuance; it is downright dangerous in its misunderstanding of vaping. E-cigarettes contain zero tobacco and help smokers to quit cigarettes. Treating them the same as tobacco products makes no sense and will put smokers' lives at risk,” the chair said.
According to the World Health Organization, nicotine itself does not cause cancer, nor is it responsible for cardiovascular disease and many of the respiratory conditions caused by burning tobacco.
Magero also noted a surge in the black market adding that this is another alarming potential outcome.
He said banning e-cigarettes outright will simply drive people to unregulated and potentially dangerous alternatives.
“History shows that prohibition does not work. An outright ban on e-cigarettes would make Kenya an outlier in global best practices when it comes to reducing smoking rates through embracing new technologies,” Magero said.
Sweden for example is set to become the first developed country to achieve smoke-free status later this year.
Magero said this is thanks to its use of smoke-free nicotine products, while in the UK, the National Health Service is actively advising smokers to use e-cigarettes as a quit tool.