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- New research suggests that vaping may be used as a gateway to smoking more often than it is used by people who stop smoking.
- A researcher said that caution is required before drawing a definite conclusion as to whether vaping leads people to smoke cigarettes as causation has not been proven at this stage.
- The survey also indicated that 4% of South African adults are vaping.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
New survey data suggests that vapes may be used as a gateway to start smoking more often than they are used as a means to stop smoking in South Africa, but caution is required as causality has not been proven at this stage.
The South African E-Cigarette Survey 2022, produced in collaboration between the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) and Development Gateway: An IREX Venture, provides insights into the sequence of how South Africans may be using e-cigarettes.
The survey of 21 263 adults from urban South Africa last year shows that 19% of people who regularly used e-cigarettes prior to ever regularly smoking combustible cigarettes, had since started smoking combustible cigarettes and were smoking at the time of the survey.
Only 13% of regular cigarette smokers gave up cigarettes after they started smoking e-cigarettes.
The report said:
Kirsten van der Zee, a research officer at the REEP, said that caution is needed before drawing conclusions as the data "only provides a partial picture".
She said that the survey data provides a sequence of the behavior that people engaged in, but that it doesn't infer causality at this stage, although the data is very suggestive.
For instance, it is entirely possible that someone would have started smoking combustible cigarettes without ever having used e-cigarettes even if they happened to use e-cigarettes before smoking.
“The survey only presents the sequence of use between e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes and does not explore why users started or quit smoking,” reads a press release for the report.
“These results suggest that the arguments that e-cigarettes are a gateway to regular smoking or a means to quit regular smoking are nuanced”.
At the very least, van der Zee said that that there’s evidence of both behaviours in the data, which means a cautionary and nuanced view of the problem is required especially when making policy.
Earlier this month, Asanda Gcoyi, CEO of the Vapour Products Association South Africa (VPASA) told News24 that vaping provides an alternative to smoking and should be viewed as a form of “harm reduction”.
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"In a perfect world, no one would be a nicotine user. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have the concept of harm reduction," she said.
She said that the best available scientific research suggests that vaping only poses 5% of the health risks of smoking.
Van der Zee said that the research on the health effects of vaping is at best uncertain and the correct policy position in light of this is to be cautious.
There are certain known harms to vaping, including nicotine addiction, exposure to inhaled toxicants and carcinogens, cardiovascular risk, and lung injury.
Other findings
The survey also provided insights into how widely e-cigarettes are used in South Africa.
It indicated that 4% of adults were regular e-cigarette users at the time of the survey.
More than one in 10 people, or 11.3% indicated that they had tried e-cigarettes.
The report found that e-cigarettes have seen rapid growth in popularity in many countries.
The research also looked at the proximity of vaping stores to learning institutions.
“A study of 240 e-cigarette shops in South Africa found that 50% 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.”
