Page 4013 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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model provides Australia with the necessary policy freedom to respond to developments in clinical evidence, helps limit access to the nicotine e-cigarette products for recreational users and encourages people to engage primary healthcare and community service providers for their smoking cessation.
While the ACT and commonwealth governments’ existing tobacco and medicine laws limit access and availability to vaping products, particularly in the supply of e-cigarettes to young people, all jurisdictions have seen a sharp rise in e-cigarette uptake. The Australian Bureau of Statistics found that in 2020-21, 21.7 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 had used a vaping product. The Australian Secondary School Alcohol and Drug Survey will provide local and national insights into rates of e-cigarette use in young people. Unfortunately, the results of this survey will not be available until mid-2023 at the earliest.
In August 2022, the ACT Health Directorate commissioned formative research with young Canberrans aged 14 to 24 years to explore young people’s knowledge and understanding of vaping and inform prevention approaches to reduce youth uptake of e-cigarettes. Early findings indicate an upward trend in e-cigarette use by young people in the ACT, with young Canberrans perceiving vaping as commonplace in their schools, local nightclubs and locations such as Civic.
The research indicates that young people can readily source e-cigarettes via social media channels, and young people are witnessing vaping dependence among their peers. This underscores the importance of public health efforts to prevent the uptake of vaping among young people and to provide vaping cessation pathways and support for those who want to quit.
The National Health and Medical Research Council, NHMRC, 2022 CEO statement on e-cigarettes concluded that the use of e-cigarettes can be harmful and that there are no health benefits of using e-cigarettes if you do not currently smoke tobacco. The NHMRC has also confirmed that e-cigarettes and e-liquids may expose users to nicotine and dangerous chemicals such as formaldehyde, acetone and heavy metals.
We know that across Australia e-cigarette products available for retail sale, even when labelled as nicotine free, have been confirmed to contain nicotine. This is worrying, given that nicotine is a highly addictive substance and, clearly, many e-cigarette products are specifically marketed to attract young people with appealing packaging and flavours such as bubble gum and chocolate.
The potential health impacts on young people who are using these products are concerning. Vaping trends seen across the country mean that there is a very real probability that Australian children are being exposed to nicotine and harmful substances without their knowledge, and potentially becoming addicted to nicotine.
A major review of global evidence conducted by the ANU and released in April 2022 shows that young non-smokers who vape are around three times as likely to take up smoking traditional cigarettes as those who are non-vapers. Nicotine use in children and adolescents can lead to lifelong addiction issues, as well as difficulties in concentration and learning.
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