Tobacco cartels targeting kids, parents warned
By a Correspondent
THE Tobacco Free Association of Zambia (TOFAZA) has challenged parents, guardians and teachers to be vigilant about high-tech cigarettes luring children into tobacco and nicotine addiction.
TOFAZA executive director Brenda Chitindi expressed worry about the rise of high-tech cigarettes, likened to an electronic gadget, bubble gum, or sweets, and now children are addicted to them.
“The manufacturers of tobacco are now producing tobacco sweet flavors in the form of e-cigarettes, cigars and oral pouches in candy, fruit and dessert flavours like cotton candy, bubble gum, cherry and vanilla to appeal directly to younger tastes,” Chitindi said in an interview.
She said parents should take a keen interest in observing the addictive behaviours of their children.
Chitindi said tobacco and nicotine were deadly products for children and young people if left unchecked.
She commended Lusaka Mayor Simon Mwewa for his desire to clean up the city, especially in dealing with tobacco and alcohol consumption among young people.
She appealed to the local authority to extend the cleaning exercise to mobile stores, tuntembas and other undesignated and unlicensed makeshift stores selling high-tech tobacco products and alcohol, especially those near schools.
“These tobacco products that are found near schools are high-tech sleek gadgets designed to look like USB flash drives or high-tech toys, making them easy for young people to hide from parents and teachers. Some brands intentionally use words like vape, tobacco-free, smoke-free, or spit-free to trick young people into thinking they are harmless water vapour rather than addictive nicotine,” Chitindi said.
She urged government to implement measures regarding tobacco brands that had expanded into digital environments.
Virtual online influencers were promoting vapes and nicotine pouches to hook youths without clearly disclosing the harmfulness of these deadly substances to children’s lives.
