Last days to comment on ‘outrageous’ draft smoking bill

The window for public comment regarding the draft Tobacco Control Bill closes on Thursday and although some have welcomed the proposed changes, the Free Market Foundation (FMF) says the current state of the Bill is outrageous and the beginning of the end of human dignity.

The proposed changes include the regulation of e-cigarettes, as well as the call for no indoor smoking areas, plain packaging for tobacco products and no advertising at till points, or vending machines for cigarettes.

According to FMF executive director Leon Louw, the draft revealed in the most obvious manner than ever before that the intention behind legislation which was supposed to help protect nonsmokers was a lie.

He said what people did not understand about the Bill was that, if implemented, all protection for nonsmokers would be abolished.

He said government was trying to bring across the narrative that smoking had no benefits when it actually did, and that what it was trying to do with the Bill was reduce humans to pieces of flesh by legislating on what it felt was chemically unhealthy without considering the psychological benefits.

He said what started off as a supposedly legitimate health concern would lead to consequences that negatively affected all aspects of life and that anyone who agreed with the Bill was going against any principled argument against human control and the violation of human rights and dignity.

“This Bill would not only violate the human rights of nonsmokers to breathe fresh air, it would also violate the dignity of people who do smoke.

“As a nonsmoker myself, we don’t need legislation to be protected from smokers. It is all part of common law,” said Louw.

On the other hand, the National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) that launched a petition in July to urge South Africans to have their say in the matter, said it welcomed the changes made to the Bill.

NCAS executive director Savera Kalideen said: “The Bill puts regulations in place to protect ordinary South Africans from second-hand smoke.

“Many people don’t realise that smoke travels and second-hand smoke is as harmful to a nonsmoker as smoking is.

“As we reach D-day for the close of comments, we are calling on ordinary South Africans to show their support for the Bill.”

ALSO READ: Time running out to comment on law that could put you in jail for smoking at home

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