Kenya is among the few remaining countries with no law to protect people from new nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, the World Health Organization warns.
The WHO said there is growing evidence such products cause heart and lung health complications and poor brain development in adolescents.
Because they harm the lungs, they also increase the risk of coronavirus infection and lead to more serious cases of Covid-19 and deaths.
The WHO said currently, 32 countries have banned the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems.
A further 79 have adopted at least one partial measure to prohibit the use of these products in public places, prohibit their advertising, promotion and sponsorship, or require the display of health warnings on packaging.
“This still leaves 84 countries where they are not regulated or restricted in any way,” says the biannual WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2021.
Kenya is among the 84 who are mostly poor countries in Africa and Asia.
Although Treasury recently introduced a nicotine tax in the Finance Act 2021, there are no specific laws regulating the highly addictive nicotine pouches in Kenya.
WHO’s director of health promotion Dr Rüdiger Krech accused cigarette manufacturers, who are the main producers of such products, of taking advantage of the public because nicotine products are difficult to regulate.
“These products are hugely diverse and are evolving rapidly. Some are modifiable by the user so that nicotine concentration and risk levels are difficult to regulate,” he said.
In June, the parliamentary Finance and National Planning Committee slashed the proposed duty on nicotine pouches by 76 per cent—from Sh5,000 per kilo of oral nicotine pouches to Sh1,200.
The committee, chaired by Homa Bay Woman Rep Gladys Wanga, said this would help BAT-Kenya grow its nicotine business in Kenya, calling it a “safer alternative to cigarettes”.
The WHO report says these products are also dangerous and are heavily regulated in 76 per cent of rich countries and some have even banned them.
“In contrast, 76 per cent of low-income countries neither regulate electronic nicotine delivery systems nor ban their sale,” the report says.
The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance called on the government to either raise taxes or totally ban nicotine pouches and electronic cigarettes.
“The reduced taxes will lead to reduced revenue for the government, thereby hampering the development of the Big Four agenda and deny funding to other ongoing projects,” Ketca chairperson Joel Gitali said.
Other lobbies, such as the International Institute for Legislative Affairs and the National Taxpayers Association, have also criticised the government for lowering taxes on products already well proved to be harmful.
BAT lobbied the June tax reduction through the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and Westminster Consulting, calling for a cheaper duty of Sh757 a kilo.
“The Universal Health Coverage programme would be a prominent casualty of reduced revenue in this regard, as increased taxes would see more funds directed towards this venture,” said Celine Awuor, the CEO of IILA.
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