Page 2215 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 3 August 2021
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(i) amending the national tobacco control legislation to expand the scope of the plain packaging and advertising legislation to include non-tobacco smoking products;
(ii) restricting the type of e-liquid flavours and vaping devices permitted to be sold in Australia to those that are less likely to appeal to children and young people; and
(iii) requiring child-safe packaging;
(d) seek consideration by the health ministers’ meeting on stronger national measures for vaping products including e-cigarettes; and
(e) report back to the Assembly on progress no later than the first sitting week in December 2022.
This motion addresses the issue of vaping, or e-cigarette use, in our community, in particular by children and young adults. E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver an aerosolized solution with or without nicotine. To date there are over 7,000 e-liquid flavours available worldwide and over 400 different e-cigarette brands. These e-cigarettes heat liquid flavour, or nicotine, to the point where it becomes a vapour that is then inhaled.
E-cigarettes do not contain the typical carcinogens present in tobacco smoke. However, there are unknown long-term health impacts of the solvents, flavours, additives and contaminants that can be found in the vapour that is inhaled through e-cigarettes. At the end of the day, we do not know if vaping causes cancer; we do not know if vaping increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Currently in Australia, people buy liquid nicotine from overseas websites. This industry of devices, liquid nicotine and flavours is largely unregulated globally, with international studies evidencing serious concerns around mislabelling, as well as the targeting and marketing of these products to young people.
There is much debate in the community about the potential e-cigarettes have to reduce tobacco-related harm. One argument suggests that e-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. Another argument supports the view that e-cigarettes which do not contain nicotine could fulfill the habit and behaviour of smoking, without the harmful effects.
However, there is currently insufficient evidence to demonstrate whether e-cigarettes are effective for the purpose of smoking cessation. A recent study by the ANU Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, published in September last year, notes that the substantial majority of smokers who quit successfully do so unaided, and no e-cigarette products have been approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration as smoking cessation aids.
The report further notes that currently there is insufficient evidence that nicotine-delivering e-cigarettes are a more effective smoking cessation aid than no intervention, non-nicotine e-cigarettes or standard nicotine replacement therapy. Similar conclusions have been reached by recent major national and international reports reviewing this evidence.
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