Stake holders in the health sector have condemned some cigarette manufacturers for promoting new nicotine delivery products.
They said the manufacturers are using ‘harm’ reduction as a gateway.
However, the stakeholders said smoking rates continue to fall in Kenya due to the increased awareness on the harmful effects of tobacco.
The effects are cancer and other non-communicable diseases.
On 18th Monday in Nairobi, a UK-based agency, Knowledge.Action.Change, quietly launched a report titled ‘Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction’.
The report was launched in collaboration with Campaign for Safer Alternatives, based in Kenya, and claiming to advocate for tailor-made solutions to end smoking in Africa.
The same report was launched in Malawi the previous week.
According to Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) in a statement, the report was sponsored exclusively by the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.
The organization was reportedly created and fully funded by the largest cigarette manufacturer in the world, Philip Morris International (PMI), in 2017.
The report advocated for new nicotine delivery methods such as vapes and ecigarettes – also manufactured by PMI – as ‘safer’ alternatives to tobacco smoking.
Tobacco control advocates across Africa condemned the launch and said its ‘hypocrisy’ of the tobacco-funded organization claiming to be concerned with health.
“The vast programs being implemented by the Foundation combined with the conducive political and legal framework in some African countries could lead to Africa becoming a hub for the promotion of so-called safer alternatives especially new tobacco products, even though they have not been scientifically proven as such,” ATCA) said in a statement.
The Alliance said the tobacco control community in Africa must rise up against this tobacco industry move.
“We must prevent our continent from becoming the Eldorado of new technology tobacco products which could be just as dangerous as cigarettes, and contribute in worsening the tobacco epidemic in Africa,” the Alliance said.
In Nairobi, the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) condemned the launch.
“This is a sad situation. PMI is employing deceit in its marketing strategies. Other tobacco companies are doing the same. They are capitalizing on greed and joblessness by some educated and informed people in Africa to spread their poisonous gospel,”
“The new products are extremely dangerous as has been revealed by a number of serious studies. We cannot rely on falsehood fronted by researchers who are paid and controlled by tobacco companies. This is a trap meant to ensure that as many smokers as possible remain hooked,” said KETCA chairman Joel Gitali.
He said those who intend to quit will continue to provide market to tobacco companies by switching to the new but equally, if not more, harmful products.
Gitali added that those who have not picked up the smoking habit are being lured by being cheated that the new products are safe.
Several studies have proven that the new nicotine delivery products being marketed by cigarette manufacturers are extremely harmful.
A study recently published in Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health found vaping may have a “gateway effect” and lead young people to cigarettes.
Another study in Plos One Journal in September 2017 showed women who vape while pregnant harm the brains of the developing fetuses.
E-cig vapor also includes potentially harmful substances such as nicotine, diacetyl (a chemical linked to a serious lung disease), cancer-causing chemicals, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead.
The World Health Organization in September 2017 advised governments and the public health community not to partner with the PMI’s Foundation for a Smoke Free World.
“There are a number of clear conflicts of interest involved with a tobacco company funding a purported health foundation, particularly if it promotes sale of tobacco and other products found in that company’s brand portfolio. WHO will not partner with the foundation,” WHO said.