Kurt Yeo is the co-founder of VSML (Vaping Saved My Life), a consumer advocacy movement in South Africa. A former smoker of 20 years who finally managed to quit after discovering flavoured vapes over a decade ago.
Public debate is strongest when scientific evidence, professional expertise and lived experience are considered together. Discover why consumer voices matter, how ordinary people have shaped policy throughout history, and why their absence can lead to unintended consequences—especially in tobacco harm reduction.
3 July 2026
The headline is alarming. The reality is more complicated. While youth vaping deserves attention, the evidence behind claims of a “new generation of nicotine addicts” is far less certain than readers are led to believe. Missing data, selective sampling and South Africa’s broader public health realities paint a very different picture.
17 June 2026
South Africa's tobacco control policies are built on a simple assumption: make smoking more expensive, more restricted and less socially acceptable, and people will quit. Reality tells a different story.
1 June 2026
The smoker is not the enemy. The smoker is the person we are trying to help.
31 May 2026
As we decouple nicotine from the lethal toxicity of smoke, are we finally entering an era where the world’s leading cause of preventable death can be engineered out of existence? The history of the last sixty years suggests that through technology and pragmatic policy, a smoke-free world is finally within our sight.
17 March 2026 • 10 min read
