Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Ministers, hon members, leaders of the Department of Health fraternity who are here, stakeholders in the tobacco industry, campaigners against tobacco smoking, ladies and gentlemen, the SA Medical Association argued in its submission to the public hearing on the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill that, in our beloved South Africa, one person dies every 20 minutes as a result of a tobacco-related disease.
This, according to our esteemed professional doctors' association, translates into three people an hour, 72 people per day and a staggering 26 280 people per year. The figures quoted by the National Council Against Smoking are worse. It stated that approximately 42 000 people die annually in South Africa as a result tobacco-related diseases.
The impact of these deaths on our country's economy, skills base and health care system cannot be overemphasised; it's enormous. These deaths could be said to be unnecessary because they are entirely preventable by not smoking. Smoking kills! The ANC government, in its quest to better the health of the nation as a whole, has introduced a series of amendments to our tobacco legislation to further reduce the impact of smoking on the health of our nation. These amendments were introduced in 1999, 2007 and of course today.
The strategic purpose of this Bill before this House is to comply with the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which came into force on 27 February 2005, closing, as our Minister has indicated, existing loopholes in the Act and strengthening the Act to better protect and promote public health.
The production, manufacturing and sale of tobacco are legal activities in South Africa, and the industry's contribution to employment, foreign exchange earnings and our state coffers via taxation is duly recognised. This Bill does not intend to place a ban on tobacco products but, amongst other things, intends to limit its availability to children so as to reduce its impact on them and to promote healthier lives.
Today it is possible and legal for a child to go into a shop and purchase tobacco products. Research done by the SA Medical Research Council points to the alarming fact that one in every five children between the ages of 13 and 15 smokes. The research also reveals that between 80 000 and 100 000 children start smoking every day throughout the world.
Children who start smoking will in all probability continue to smoke in adulthood and therefore substantially increase their probability of succumbing to a tobacco-related illness.
Smoking is a learned behaviour and is highly addictive. This Bill intends to discourage tobacco use amongst children by increasing the age limit for children to be allowed to purchase any tobacco products from the age of 16 years to the age 18 years. Through these amendments, a child who is a person in terms of the Child Care Act - a person under the age of 18 years - cannot buy cigarettes. It will be an offence to supply or sell a tobacco product to a child.
In addition, this Bill also outlaws the sale or supply of any confectionary or toy product that resembles a tobacco product. These sweets which look like cigarettes begin to entice children as young as five, six and seven years of age into the habit of smoking and can no longer, in terms of this Bill, be sold or given to children. Our children's entry into the world of smoking must be delayed for as long as possible in order to protect their health. These amendments, which I may say enjoyed the full support of the tobacco industry, will, at the end, hopefully contribute to this delay.
The availability through the sale of tobacco products at any health facility, including pharmacies and educational institutions where there may be students younger than the age of 18 years, should not be allowed in terms of this Bill. Our hospitals and pharmacies, which are institutions for healing and recovering from illnesses cannot, through the sale and supply of tobacco products, contribute to the festering of diseases.
This Bill also proposes to place a restriction on the use of vending machines in the sale and supply of tobacco products. It is illogical that vending machines that sell beverages or confectionary items also sell tobacco products because such machines are usually and frequently accessed by children - and, of course, nonsmokers like me, would be unnecessarily be exposed to tobacco products against our will.
It is, therefore, correct that vending machines that sell and supply tobacco products, should only do that. Those machines should be designated to places where children cannot access them. The designation and placement of such vending machines must be done in accordance with the direction of the Minister of Health, Comrade Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who is responsible for the health of our nation. Such vending machines must display the notices that contain the necessary information regarding the tobacco product as prescribed by the Act. In addition, this Bill also outlaws the sale or supply or distribution of tobacco products through the internet, postal services or any other electronic media, because the question of age verification will be a difficult one if not impossible to enforce. However, this prohibition does not apply to any commercial communication between tobacco manufacturers, importers, trade partners, employees and shareholders.
These matters are provided for in the Bill that all stakeholders involved in its processing may have agreed to. It is our view as the ANC that this Bill will close the loopholes in the Act, especially those that have allowed tobacco products to be promoted amongst young people.
Life is not an academic exercise. The government is right to protect the nation, especially against destructive habits like smoking. The ANC therefore has no qualms in supporting the passing of this Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]