Vaping Saved My Life
South Africa
Vaping Saved My Life is a South African consumer advocacy organisation that represents adult smokers and former smokers, promotes tobacco harm reduction, shares lived experiences and supports evidence-informed access to lower-risk alternatives to smoking.
About
Vaping Saved My Life (VSML) is an independent, consumer-led advocacy organisation based in South Africa. We work to ensure that the experiences, interests and voices of adult smokers and former smokers are represented in public discussions about smoking, nicotine and tobacco harm reduction. VSML was founded by Kurt Yeo and Craig Stuart, two former long-term smokers who were able to move away from combustible cigarettes by switching to vaping. Their personal experiences demonstrated the potential of lower-risk alternatives to help adult smokers who had struggled to quit through other approaches. In August 2017, they established the Vaping Saved My Life Facebook page as a place where South African former smokers could share their experiences. What began as a testimonial platform developed into a broader consumer movement as misinformation, negative media coverage and the exclusion of consumer perspectives increasingly affected public understanding of vaping and tobacco harm reduction. In September 2019, VSML formally evolved into an active consumer advocacy organisation. Since then, we have worked to improve public understanding, challenge misinformation, engage with policymakers and the media, conduct consumer-focused surveys and projects, and document the real-world experiences of people who have moved away from smoking. VSML supports proportionate, evidence-informed policies that protect young people and non-smokers while preserving access to appropriate lower-risk alternatives for adults who smoke. We believe regulation should recognise the substantial differences between combustible tobacco products and non-combustible nicotine alternatives. At the centre of our work is a simple principle: the people most directly affected by tobacco and nicotine policy deserve to be heard. By bringing together consumer experiences, credible evidence and responsible advocacy, VSML seeks to help reduce the death and disease caused by smoking in South Africa and beyond.
Mission
Our mission is to reduce the harm caused by combustible tobacco by representing and empowering adult consumers, sharing their lived experiences, promoting accurate and evidence-informed information, and advocating for proportionate policies that enable adult smokers to access lower-risk alternatives. Vaping saves lives—and the most important vaper is the smoker who has not yet switched.