The National Council Against Smoking says it is working towards having electronic cigarettes governed by the amended anti-smoking law.

Electronic cigarettes were developed in China in 2004, and consist of a “refillable cigarette” with a battery and an electronic chip. The cigarettes are sold with nicotine and flavourings.

“Tobacco cigarettes are not only harmful to the smoker,” said Ridwaan Ismail of Health-e-Cigarettes, a local company that launched its electronic cigarette this year.

“They are proven to be harmful to those inhaling the secondary smoke.

“On the other hand, e-cigarettes are not harmful to those around you, and significantly reduce the damage caused to the smoker by cutting out all carcinogenic substances.”

Ismail said that instead of producing smoke from combustion, like normal cigarettes, the electronic cigarette produced vapour. The vapour was created from liquid containing nicotine within the electronic cigarette.

“Both odourless and colourless, the vapour is neither toxic nor harmful as a secondary smoke, making it safe to smoke in all public places,” he said.

Peter Ucko, director of the National Council Against Smoking, countered this.

He said that electronic cigarettes still contained nicotine, which was addictive.

There was no such thing as safe nicotine, he said, adding that the cigarettes had already been banned on aircraft.

Magdalene Seguin, head of the Cancer Association of South Africa, said it believed the cigarettes were not a proven and safe way to stop smoking.

Ismail claimed e-cigarettes were becoming the preferred alternative, offering smokers the opportunity to cut down on the harmful chemicals smokers inhaled.

He said the cartridges, unlike tobacco butts, were also completely recyclable which made the cigarette a more environmentally friendly product.

Ucko said the National Council Against Smoking was working to have the electronic cigarettes governed by the same amended laws that restricted the public smoking of normal cigarettes.

This article was originally published on page 8 of Cape Argus on September 22, 2009