THE Government is being urged to speed up the passage of the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, which is now being reviewed by a joint select committee of Parliament.

This comes from advocacy group, the Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control (JCTC), which is particularly concerned about the harmful effects of smoking on the nation’s youth, who have taken strongly to vaping — the inhaling of a vapour created by an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) or other devices.

Tobacco control programme officer at JCTC Shanique Burton told the Jamaica Observer that the coalition urgently wants to see improvements to tobacco legislation from 2013.

“We want to focus not only on prohibiting smoking in public places but also to… include vaping in terms of the monitoring and what is restricted,” Burton said.

“The new legislation also wants to restrict sales to children, because… we can see where vaping has become popular in Jamaica,” she said.

Citing a 2017 Global Youth Tobacco survey done by the World Health Organization (WHO), Burton lamented that students begin using tobacco products from an early age.

The survey revealed that 11.7 per cent of students in Jamaica who are between 13 and 15 years old smoke e-cigarettes; 11.2 per cent of students smoke cigarettes; 15 per cent of Jamaicans 15 years and older currently use tobacco products; 50 per cent of lifetime smokers in Jamaica started smoking by age 19, while 10 per cent started by age 11.

“This is one of the reasons why the new Tobacco Control Act wants to include e-cigarettes and vaping in the legislation,” Burton said.

The WHO advises that countries which have not banned e-cigarettes should regulate them as harmful products.

Concerned that vaping was becoming too commonplace in Jamaica, including among high school students, the Ministry of Health and Wellness in 2019 had said it was considering a ban on the practice, similar to action taken by some American states where it has been blamed for a number of deaths.

At that time, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton disclosed that he had instructed Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie to scrutinise the data coming out of the United States with an aim to assess and consider the most severe possible outcome.

Also in 2019, the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) urged Jamaicans to desist from using e-cigarettes or vaping products.

According to NCDA, in 2018 vaping among teenagers and young adults exploded and large numbers of young people (smokers and non-smokers) started using e-cigarettes.

NCDA added that a double-digit percentage of Jamaican youth confirmed that they use or have used a form of vaping product, and almost 44.2 per cent of youth stated that the use of these products helps people feel more comfortable at celebrations, parties and social gatherings.

Despite several unknown chemicals in the vape, the NCDA noted that the act of vaping can already be linked to acute illnesses, symptoms, and issues such as brain damage, nicotine addiction, raised heart rate, raised blood pressure, deteriorating asthma conditions, chest pains, coughing and wheezing — and in extreme cases, even death.

“With the ease of accessibility to these products by youngsters as they are marketed as safe alternatives to using combustible cigarettes, it can be inferred that these products — often containing attractive flavours — are targeting our youngsters to use them, often leading to an addiction. We see that this addition to nicotine may eventually lead to the use of combustible cigarettes. This is a worrying trend and must concern us and all Jamaica when considering the health and safety of our youth,” NCDA Chief Executive Officer Michael Tucker said.

When passed, the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, which was tabled in Parliament by Dr Tufton on December 1, 2020, will provide a comprehensive legislation that restricts all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

It will also protect people from inducements to use tobacco products, protect children and promote dissemination of information about the addictive effects of tobacco use.

The new Bill is also intended to address gaps in the current legal framework and will make Jamaica fully compliant with the WHO Framework on Tobacco Control.