Page 2220 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 3 August 2021
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In addition it is already clear that vaping irritates the respiratory tract, is likely to have long-term systemic effects on the cardiovascular system and may lead to cancers of the respiratory tract. It will be many years before we truly know the full health effects of e-cigarettes.
What are e-cigarettes? The commonwealth Department of Health describes them this way:
E-cigarettes are devices that deliver an aerosol by heating a solution that users breath in. The aerosol is commonly referred to as ‘vapour’. Using an e-cigarette is commonly referred to as ‘vaping’.
E-cigarettes are battery operated and may look like cigarettes, cigars, pipes, pens or memory sticks.
The liquids used in e-cigarettes:
• may contain a range of toxic chemicals including those that add flavour
• sometimes contain nicotine even if they are labelled as being ‘nicotine free’.
We know that nicotine exposure during adolescence can harm the developing brain, impact learning, memory and attention, and increase the risk for future addiction to other drugs. Vaping can also potentially expose both the vaper and bystanders to other harmful substances. These include heavy metals, volatile organic compounds and ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deeply into the lungs.
ACT Health has developed a fact sheet on the health impacts of e-cigarettes for children, young people and adults. Information like this is a critical part of making sure Canberrans know the risks. However, in the face of the industry’s underhanded tactics, we know that without effective controls on advertising and marketing, health messaging can only achieve so much. To help achieve our goals, we continue to invest in grants and programs to address nicotine and smoking-related harms through our health promotion grants and partnerships with community organisations.
The ACT government recognises that the regulation of e-cigarettes is complex. Responsibility is spread across ACT tobacco legislation and medicines and poisons legislation, as well as commonwealth legislation. In 2016 my predecessor, Meegan Fitzharris MLA, introduced the Smoke-Free Legislation Amendment Act 2016 to this Assembly to protect the health of the public from the potential harms associated with personal vaporisers. This act made the ACT the first jurisdiction to regulate e-cigarettes.
As a result, under the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1927, the ACT treats e-cigarettes in the same way as tobacco products and applies the same offences for non-compliance. Regulatory measures also apply to all e-cigarettes, regardless of whether they contain nicotine. But this does not stretch to commonwealth legislation. For example, online marketing approaches used by e-cigarette companies would be prohibited under the commonwealth’s Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 or the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act if these were considered tobacco products.
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