Bill banning public smoking being finalised

The Health Department says it is finalising the draft process of the Control of Tobacco products and Nicotine Delivery Systems Bill of 2018, which will push for, among other things, a 100% smoke-free policy in public spaces. The draft law seeks to provide for control over smoking, to regulate the sale and advertising of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems, to regulate the packaging and appearance of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems and to make provision for the standardisation of packaging. This also includes the prohibition of free distribution of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems, notes TimesLIVE. The current Act allows for 25% of a public space to be designated as a smoking area, but the revised one will have zero provision for this. ‘In the upcoming Bill, SA is taking action against electronic cigarettes and vaping and classifies e-cigarette liquids as tobacco products. We acknowledge that this is an area that we as a country strongly need to monitor research and regulate, based on lessons from other countries,’ Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said. Anti-tobacco activist Dr Yussuf Saloojee said Covid-19 provided a good opportunity for smokers to quit, but the challenge was to maintain the momentum. ‘The challenge is to ensure the one m i l l i o n people who stopped smoking do not go back to smoking, and that the young people who did not start remain non-smokers. That emphasises the importance of the tobacco Bill, and of government increasing the tax on tobacco,’ Saloojee said

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