Vaping and your health

Vaping is when you use a handheld electronic device to breathe a mist (“vapour”) into your lungs while smoking a cigarette burns tobacco. E-cigarette go by different names, including vapes, vape pens or sticks, e-hookahs, hookah sticks, mods and personal vaporisers (PVs). They can also be collectively called electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). These devices heat a liquid combination of nicotine, flavouring, propylene glycol and other additives into an aerosol that you inhale through a mouthpiece. Vaping can cause breathing problems, organ damage, cancer, addiction and other conditions.

Vaping products are not covered by the Tobacco Products Control Act or the Medicines Act and thus are largely unregulated.

The new legislation to regulate the industry is currently in the pipeline, with the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill currently being processed. The Department of Health has argued that the coming laws and push to clamp down on the industry are driven by the goal of protecting children from potential harm.

The government is also moving to come down harder on the industry. From 1 June 2023, nicotine-substitute solutions, including vaping products, will be included in the tax net with a flat excise duty rate of R2.90/ml. Companies in the vaping space have argued that the new taxes could more than double prices in some cases, feeding consumers to the black market.

Vaping works by heating liquid in a small device so you can breathe it into your lungs. The e-cigarette, vape pen or other vaping device heats the liquid in the device to create an aerosol. This is not water vapour. Mist from e-cigarettes contains particles of nicotine, flavouring and other substances suspended in air. You breathe these particles into your mouth from the mouthpiece, where they go down your throat and into your lungs.

Vaping is often thought of as safer than cigarette smoking, but vaping causes health problems, too. Both vaping and smoking are addictive and bring potentially dangerous chemicals into your body. The levels of many of these chemicals is higher when you burn tobacco. Vaping has not been around long enough to know what kind of long-term damage it might cause.