{"id":686,"date":"2021-05-18T12:39:56","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T12:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/?p=686"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:46:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:46:45","slug":"underwriting-smoking-and-electronic-nicotine-delivery-systems-ends-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/2021\/05\/18\/underwriting-smoking-and-electronic-nicotine-delivery-systems-ends-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Underwriting Smoking and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) Use"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve known the increased risk that smoking poses for decades now \u2013 the research has conclusively shown that smoking increases the risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease, among many other conditions. This is the reason why smoker rates are higher than non-smoker rates in life insurance. Have you ever wondered why the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) also incurs high rates? We delve into this topic in this edition of the Bulletin.<\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-687\" src=\"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/smokers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"680\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/smokers.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/smokers-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why e-cigarette users are charged smoker rates<\/h3>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-cigarettes are battery-operated products designed to deliver nicotine, flavour and other chemicals. They turn chemicals, including nicotine, into an aerosol (using an atomiser) that is inhaled by the user. Most insurers in South Africa charge the users of e-cigarettes the same rates that they charge smokers of traditional tobacco products. There are a number of reasons for this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-cigarettes, such as vapes, contain smaller doses of nicotine, and other harmful substances such as ultrafine particles, flavourants, and heavy metals. While the levels of nicotine are smaller than they are in traditional tobacco products, they still pose some risk to the long-term health of the user. That being said, some e-cigarettes can contain even more nicotine than normal, combustible cigarettes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s more, as e-cigarettes are still relatively new in the market, not enough research has been done to investigate the health risks that come with using them. However, some of the research that is available shows that consuming e-cigarettes has been associated with increased risk of chronic cough, phlegm, bronchitis, and asthma. Some case studies and invitro research have shown that when human tissue is exposed to e-cigarette aerosol, it can lead to quantifiable injury to the small airways in the lungs, and inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system (like pneumonia and interstitial lung disease). Other risks include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections of the respiratory system;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Possible risks to cardiovascular health, although this requires further studies to understand the full impact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve known the increased risk that smoking poses for decades now \u2013 the research has conclusively shown that smoking increases the risk of suffering from&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innov8ions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.innov8fs.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}