Experts Are Calling For A Stronger Vaping Ban After The Extent Of Risks Was Revealed
Vaping is already illegal in Australia, so it's unclear what a further ban would achieve.
The Australian Council on Smoking and Health has renewed calls for the government to ban vaping after new research revealed the extent of vaping-related harms.
Australian National University Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health has released its findings from the most in-depth study we’ve seen to date on the dangers of smoking, revealing conclusive evidence that vaping causes poisoning, injuries, burns, and immediate toxicity through inhalation, including seizures.
In addition to these serious and long-term health concerns, the study also found that there are a number of less serious, yet still concerning health impacts associated with vaping.
“E-cigarettes cause acute lung injury,” the review reads. “Among smokers, there is moderate evidence that use of e-cigarettes increases heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and arterial stiffness acutely after use.”
The study, which was funded by the federal health department, noted that a lack of evidence means the impact of vaping on things like cancer and reproductive health remain unknown.
“While certain more immediate risks can be identified from the current evidence, the impact of nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarettes on important clinical health outcomes – including those related to cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental health, development in children and adolescents, reproduction, sleep, wound healing, neurological disease and endocrine, olfactory, optical, allergic and haematological conditions – is not known, as reliable evidence is lacking,” the study found.
However, the report did find that e-cigarettes — even those without THC — can cause acute lung injury (EVALI). While this is more common in THC products, the study found that this is not always a determining factor in the development of EVALI.
Previously, the THC/vitamin E risks have been widely reported, but the link between EVALI and non-THC vaping is new.
The study’s findings come after an autopsy of a Queensland man who died last year revealed he likely died as a result of vaping.
Vaping Is Illegal In Australia, Technically
Vaping is already illegal in Australia without a prescription, but it isn’t particularly difficult to get your hands on a vape if you wish.
Selling nicotine vapes has been illegal in Australia for years and it is technically illegal to carry or use one without a prescription. But even after last year’s crack down on the importation of these products, vaping seems more prevalent than ever.
While the Therapeutic Goods Administration is trying to crack down on the illegal advertising of vaping products, this doesn’t do much to prevent the underground sale of these products through word-of-mouth advertising.
“There’s going to be a lot of unsatisfied demand, and unsatisfied demand will mean people going back to smoking or people buying from the black market,” Dr Alex Wodak, the President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, told VICE after last year’s crack down.
“We know that over 95 percent [of people] at the moment use the black market, so presumably that will only get worse.”
As it currently stands, a large portion of Australians who are nicotine vaping on a daily basis are doing so in spite of the plethora of laws that prohibit it. And, as a result, are inhaling unregulated products that we aren’t sure of the contents of.
Considering there are no national laws regulating the contents and ingredients of tobacco products in Australia, it is unlikely that we’d see any sort of regulation of vaping ingredients, either. But with Australia’s vaping addiction persisting in spite of countless laws banning their sale and consumption, it begs the question: are further “bans” really the solution here?