Durban — Turning the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) into a smoke-free campus might be a pipe dream and it will take a “hip” targeted campaign to steer students away from hookahs and e-cigarettes.
Dr Chauntelle Bagwandeen, newly appointed director of Student Health Services at UKZN, was responding to a study released by the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) showing an “alarming” increase in university students using hookahs and e-cigarettes.
Bagwandeen said: “All efforts will be made to inhibit the increase in uptake of e-cigarettes and hookahs to prevent long-term consequences that are as yet unknown.”
However, to ensure that the rights of smokers and non-smokers were protected, the use of smoking products could be limited to certain areas.
“We would have to explore the legalities around declaring the university a smoke-free zone, given that we understand that it would transgress upon the rights of those who choose to smoke.
“I would imagine having a blanket rule would need thorough investigation, but it would be something to work towards because there are many facilities which are smoke-free,” she said.
The MRC’s national study found “an alarming rise” in the prevalence of e-cigarette and hookah use among university students, exacerbated by aggressive advertising and marketing. The MRC said the study also shed light on the urgent need for regulatory measures to curb these trends.
The study conducted by the MRC’s Mental Health, Alcohol, Substance Use and Tobacco Research Unit (Mastru) investigated university students’ exposure to e-cigarette and hookah pipe advertising and marketing around university campuses and at other venues.
It also explored the association between the prevalence of product use, the students’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions, and their “significant exposure” to this marketing.
Senior Mastru specialist scientist Dr Catherine Egbe said the report revealed troubling statistics about students, a demographic group particularly vulnerable to marketing tactics.
“We found that those exposed to any form of advertisement, marketing and promotion were almost three times more likely to be currently using e-cigarettes or hookahs compared with those not exposed, while those who noticed e-cigarette promotions specifically were almost four times more likely to be currently using e-cigarettes.”
The findings revealed that 1 in 4 university students aged 18 to 24 years (about 26%) said they currently used e-cigarettes; overall 40% of students in this age group had used it.
Almost 1 in 3 students aged 18 to 24 (about 32%) reported that they currently indulged in hookah smoking; overall about 47% had used it at some stage.
“Hookah smoking has been increasing in prevalence nationally as growing trends of using these products at parties and in student residences have been reported,” the MRC said.
The study showed young people had “significant exposure” to advertising and marketing related to these products.
It found that overall 77.8% of students were exposed to any advertisement, marketing, and promotion of e-cigarettes. Most of them (58.7%) noticed e-cigarette advertising in stores where these were sold, closely followed by tobacco-selling stores (54.5%) and the internet or social media (54.2%).
The students revealed that 69.8% of them were exposed to advertising, marketing and the promotion of hookahs, mostly in-store or online through advertising and social media.
It was also revealed that many of the adverts and marketing tactics reported by participants using hookah were illegal under the current law, while e-cigarette marketing has yet to be regulated.
“Aggressive marketing tactics employed by the tobacco and nicotine industries target young impressionable minds, with products like e-cigarettes and hookahs being falsely marketed as less harmful alternatives to conventional cigarettes, without information about any health effects that may be associated with the use of these products,” said Egbe.
She said that while the hookah, also known as a hubbly bubbly, shisha or waterpipe, was popular and seen as fashionable, many young people had no idea that it is a tobacco product and is supposed to be regulated by the country’s existing tobacco control policies.
She said others thought hookahs were less harmful than tobacco because the smoke passed through water before being consumed when smoking.
Egbe said some of the participants knew there were adverse health implications related to the use of hookahs because they had witnessed this or were personally affected.
“Health effects mentioned included addictiveness, headaches, respiratory issues, feeling dizzy and even fainting after having smoked a hookah.”
Recommendations based on the findings of the study included enforcing the ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship for hookahs, and urgently extending the ban to cover e-cigarettes by passing the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, Egbe said.
“We must act now to help inform and protect a new generation from harm and nicotine addiction.”
Bagwandeen told the Independent on Saturday that once young people were drawn into smoking, it was very difficult to shake it off.
Smoking e-cigarettes and hookahs also went hand in hand with alcohol intake and clubbing and the smoking instruments were attractive because they were “colourful, disposable and pretty”.
“University students are young, they’re away from home, they’re searching for freedom, they’re aspiring to images that social media force upon them, that this is what you need to do to be hip, to be cool, to have a good time,” she said.
Bagwandeen said the advertising was ruthless and it was important to promote healthy choices by making those just as “sexy” as all the other things people were drawn towards.
“If there are advertising campaigns that promote the alternatives, we shouldn’t just have, by rote, Department of Health posters, but make it as sexy as the competition.
“So it would have to be a very concerted, well-thought-out, well-drafted, focus group, discussing what the hook is, that will get people’s attention.”
Independent on Saturday