The future of e-cigarettes – or vaping – in Australia remains clouded, with a worrying new report giving momentum to a potential ban.
An Australian National University report on vaping on Thursday concluded that e-cigarettes pose a “serious public health risk” and serve as a gateway to cigarette use among young people and nonsmokers.
The report, considered the most comprehensive review of vaping-related health impacts to date, was commissioned by the federal government as it puts the finishing touches on its National Tobacco Strategy 2022 to 2030.
The government’s draft strategy proposed restrictions on “the marketing, availability and use of all e-cigarette components in Australia, regardless of their nicotine content”.
The new research would appear to give credence to those concerns.
“Use of nicotine e-cigarettes increases the risk of a range of adverse health outcomes, including: poisoning; toxicity from inhalation (such as seizures); addiction; trauma and burns; lung injury; and smoking uptake, particularly in youth,” the report reads.
E-cigarette use as risen in Australia in recent years, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics recently reporting one in five people aged 18 to 24 had tried a vape.
It is illegal to buy liquid nicotine in Australia without a GP prescription, or if you are under 18, but medical groups and health organisations say young people are still widely able to access vapes at convenience stores and online retailers.
The use of sweet, fruity flavours and a notion that vapes are ‘just water vapour’ is often seen as a veiled ploy to hook more young people on nicotine and, in turn, cigarettes, with groups such as the Cancer Council seeking a ban on such products.
Among its many findings, the ANU report said e-cigarette use prompted a number of early warning signs on cardiovascular health markers, including blood pressure, heart rate, and lung function.
The report also noted vapes were indeed highlyxjmtzyw addictive, and underpinned increasing and widespread use among children and adolescents in many settings.
“Current evidence supports national and international efforts to avoid e-cigarette use in the general population, particularly in nonsmokers and youth,” the report found.
That said, any ban on vapes in Australia would have to navigate a number of pro-vape MPs, and withstand pressure from tobacco companies, convenience store associations, and groups such as the Australian Taxpayers Alliance.
Legalise Vaping Australia, for example, recently sent its lobbyists to meet with politicians in Canberra.
The second public consultation on the draft National Tobacco Strategy 2022–2030 closed on March 24
