Page 2216 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 3 August 2021
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Before a product can claim that it can help with quitting smoking or managing nicotine withdrawal symptoms, it must be assessed and approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for safety and efficacy. Currently, no brand of e-cigarette has been approved by the TGA for this purpose. Counter to the position of e-cigarettes helping people to quit smoking, e-cigarettes have the potential for the reverse effect: creating pathways and behaviour which can lead to nicotine addiction, particularly in young people.
The NHMRC states that there is some evidence from longitudinal studies to suggest that e-cigarette use in non-smokers is associated with further uptake of tobacco cigarette smoking. The ANU report I referenced earlier further states that, among people who have never smoked or are current non-smokers, those who use e-cigarettes are, on average, around three times as likely to take up smoking of conventional cigarettes and transition to regular tobacco smoking as those who have not used e-cigarettes.
To this point much of our success in reducing smoking rates across the country has largely been that young people are not taking up cigarette smoking. Our public health and legislative reforms are working. However, e-cigarettes and vaping may work to undermine these efforts, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that young people in our community are vaping. The National Health and Medical Research Council is currently funding Australian research into this matter and, more broadly, into the effects of safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes.
A key report that has just been released by the World Health Organisation, highlighting the dangers of novel nicotine products, notes that nicotine is highly addictive, electronic nicotine delivery systems are harmful and must be better regulated and, where they are not banned, governments should adopt appropriate policies to protect their populations from the harms of electronic nicotine delivery systems and to prevent their uptake by children, adolescents and other vulnerable groups.
Another recent study, this one undertaken by the University of Queensland, has analysed the impacts of the portrayal of vaping on TikTok. TikTok is a platform primarily used by young people, and one middle-aged Liberal member of the Assembly. The UQ study noted that TikTok’s community guidelines restrict uploading videos featuring “the depiction, promotion and trade of drugs or other controlled substances”. Advertising of tobacco and alcohol products is also prohibited on the platform.
However, the findings of the University of Queensland study suggest that TikTok was not acting to control vaping-promoting video content. We need national regulation and legislation to address situations such as this. The University of Queensland study called for age restrictions to reduce young viewers’ exposure to videos intentionally or inadvertently advertising vaping products and behaviour.
Predominant medical associations, including the World Health Organisation, the Australian Medical Association, the Therapeutic Goods Association, the Public
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