JTA president agrees with need for vaping legislation

LILLIPUT, St James – President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Dr. Mark Smith has expressed his support for the call from Minister of Health and Wellbeing Dr. Christopher Tufton to now develop tobacco legislation with measures that will also tackle the use of e-cigarettes. among teenagers.

“The reality is that we need strong and robust legislation. We need legislation that can protect our children from developing addictions,” Smith said Jamaican observer on Tuesday.

He is concerned that students do not fully understand the health implications of vaping, nor that it can lead to long-term problems with lung capacity and breathing.

“There have been some studies looking at the negative impact on your lungs and we have to be careful with that – because it has been well researched that it is not safe. If you find a kid with an e-cigarette, they’ll tell you it’s safe, it’s not as bad as smoking a cigarette or marijuana or whatever,” Smith explains.

The JTA president also pointed out that there is significant pushback in the United States as lawmakers seek to place guardrails around those they view as easily exploited by manufacturing companies.

“That’s where government policy is so important and ensuring that we don’t have a generation that becomes addicted to licorice and the old e-cigarettes,” said Smith.

He shared his thoughts on the magnitude of the problem within the Jamaican school system.

“Based on my own experiences and discussions, it’s not widespread (among younger kids), but every now and then you’ll come across a kid wearing one to school, or hiding and taking the e-cigarette from his parents, big sister or brother uses. But the problem I think you’re going to run into is, you see a lot more (use) at the high school level and the tertiary level, where (through) a lot of our young adults become addicted to this kind of thing. It is seen as fashionable without recognizing the enormous health risk it poses to them in the long term,” Smith argued.

His comments echo concerns expressed by the Minister of Health last Wednesday on the sidelines of a Ministry of Health strategic planning retreat at the Iberostar Resort in Rose Hall, St. James. Tufton told journalists that parliamentary joint committees are well advanced in their work, which will next debate the possible adoption of a tobacco law. The minister added that some of the legislation will address e-cigarettes, as well as enforcement and public education about vaping.

“That will be taken into account. The same rules that will apply to traditional tobacco will apply to e-cigarettes,” he stated.

Tufton explained that the legislation will focus on age restrictions, where the use of e-cigarettes is and is not allowed, as well as all promotional aspects of these devices.

However, he emphasized that he was not suggesting an outright ban.

“We would like to discourage consumption altogether, but we also recognize that we are in a society where people are old enough to make decisions, and the freedom of choice that we as a philosophy support is preserved,” the minister said.

But he’s particularly concerned that e-cigarettes are being designed to evade detection and appeal to young people.

“They are easy to camouflage in the school system; they are like pens and pencils. There are other forms of marketing involved – whether it’s colours, whether it’s the smell of the tobacco, the liquid that’s in it, different flavors – and they’re really trying to target a broad cross-section of the market” , Tufton said.

“The market is changing and the marketing around these devices has become very attractive and catchy to the younger population, which means bad habits are being developed and they are putting themselves at risk in the early years,” added the minister added.

A person using an e-cigarette. President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Dr Mark Smith, says students do not fully understand the health implications of vaping, nor that it can lead to long-term problems with lung capacity and breathing.