The national health department plans to prevent laaities from smoking entjies and other tobacco products with the introduction of the Tobacco Products Control Bill.

The department says in Africa, there are seven million tobacco users aged between 13 and  15.

The World Health Organisation’s global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use from 2000 to 2030, released this week, showed that globally, at least 37 million teens aged between 13 and 15 were current users of some form of tobacco. Of this total, 25 million are boys and 12 million are girls.

South-East Asia had the largest number of teen tobacco users, at 30 percent of the global total, while Africa fell into the average rate of around 9 percent.

Health Department spokesperson, Foster Mohale, says tobacco use among adolescents in SA was indeed an issue on the department’s radar.

Mohale says: “E-cigarette shops and companies target youth by marketing e-cigarettes with discounts and other promotional schemes and by establishing e-cigarette shops in close physical  proximity to college campuses.

“A study of 240 e-cigarette shops in SA found that 50 percent of these vendors were within a 5km radius of an institute of higher education. The study also found that among adults 18 to 29 years old, proximity to e-cigarette shops was associated with a higher likelihood of ever having used an e-cigarette.”

Mohale said the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill introduced to parliament in May last year was set to strengthen the regulation and control of the  products.

The objective of the bill is to regulate the sale and advertising of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems, and prohibit the sale of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems to children.

francesca.villette@inl.co.za

Daily Voice