Vaping In Australia: What Do The Facts Say?

Australia's recent decision to ban single-use disposable vapes has sparked significant debate and discussion among health experts, policymakers, and the public alike. 

While introducing the plans to ban disposable vapes and the new regulations, Health Minister Mark Butler said on Tuesday, “The former government allowed this black market to flourish for too long and as a result, vaping has become a menace in our schools and society.”

“Just like they did with smoking, Big Tobacco has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added flavours to create a new generation of nicotine addicts."

The crackdown will see disposable vapes completely banned, as well as new restrictions on flavours and colours.

However, the federal government will now make it easier for people to vape with a doctor’s prescription, though they will require pharmaceutical-like packaging and have reduced nicotine concentrations and volumes.

The move, which is intended to reduce the number of young people taking up vaping, has been met with both support and criticism. 

While some argue that the ban is a necessary step to protect public health, others believe it could have unintended consequences and may even drive people back to smoking traditional cigarettes. 

One of the key concerns with vaping is that it can lead to nicotine addiction, particularly among young people, as nicotine is a highly addictive substance, and e-cigarettes deliver nicotine in a concentrated form. 

It’s believed that this can make it easier for young people to become addicted to nicotine and to transition to smoking traditional cigarettes.

According to recent peer-reviewed studies from the Australian National University (ANU), vaping has increased “alarmingly” in recent years, with young non-smokers who vape being around three times as likely to take up smoking than non-vapers.

Lead author Professor Emily Banks, from the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, said the review confirms multiple risks of e-cigarettes, particularly for non-smokers, children, adolescents and young adults. 

“Recent evidence shows vaping is becoming more popular, especially among children and adolescents, even though it is illegal except on prescription,” Professor Banks said.

“Almost all e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, which is extremely addictive. Addiction is common in people using vapes and young people are especially vulnerable to addiction as their brains are still developing.

“We tend to trivialise addiction, saying things like ‘I’m addicted to chocolate’. Addiction is a serious health issue and people addicted to vapes are going through repeated cycles of withdrawal, irritability, feeling bad and craving until they vape to feel normal again.

“For children and adolescents that can mean having difficulty sitting through a lesson or a meal with family.”

“Nicotine use in children and adolescents can lead to lifelong addiction issues as well as difficulties in concentration and learning. Vaping is also illegal if it isn't on prescription," she said. 

There is also concern about the potential long-term health effects of vaping. While e-cigarettes don't produce tar or carbon monoxide like traditional cigarettes, they do contain other chemicals and substances that could be harmful. 

Worryingly, studies are already showing early warning signs of adverse effects of e-cigarettes on cardiovascular health markers, including blood pressure and heart rate, and lung functioning. 

"The evidence is there for some of the risks but for most major health outcomes, like cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental illness, we don't know what the impacts of e-cigarettes are. Their safety for these outcomes hasn't been established," Professor Banks said. 

The chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA), Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, echoed this concern.

“There is already evidence of respiratory problems and cardiovascular issues, as well as the quality and safety issues of exploding vapes, and issues with access and poisoning among very small children. There are extraordinary adverse events on primary and high school kids,” he said.

“This is a public health disaster unfolding before our eyes.”

On Tuesday, he praised the new measures to tackle recreational vaping as being important steps toward re-establishing Australia’s position as a world leader on tobacco control.

“The widespread, aggressive marketing of vaping products, particularly to children, is a worldwide scourge,” he said.

“Today is a pivotal, historical moment in Australia’s fight against smoking, vaping, and Big Tobacco. We congratulate Minister Butler, and look forward to seeing positive progress as he works with the states and territories to ensure these commitments are fulfilled.”

However, it's worth noting that some people see e-cigarettes as a harm-reduction tool. For people who are already addicted to nicotine, e-cigarettes may be a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes. 

Some public health experts have even suggested that e-cigarettes could be used as a smoking cessation tool in the future, with small-scale randomised controlled trials appearing to support this claim - though it’s important to note that research is needed to confirm this.

These trials found that using vaping devices, or e-cigarettes, with low nicotine delivery was more effective than placebo vaping but not more effective than other forms of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), though this may have been due to a lack of studies or the limited effectiveness of early vaping devices. 

More recently, high-quality pragmatic trials seem to show that vaping can be more effective than conventional NRT in helping smokers quit, providing promising evidence for the potential of vaping as a smoking cessation aid.

Comparatively, Professor Banks claims the ANU report “found limited evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes were effective to help people quit smoking in the clinical setting.”

"In Australia, over two million people have used e-cigarettes. Use is more common among youth, particularly young males, and among smokers and the majority is not for the purposes of smoking cessation."  

She added that "most people who quit smoking successfully do so unaided.” 

“E-cigarettes are likely to be harmful for non-smokers and for people who use them while continuing to smoke - the commonest use pattern currently,” she said.

"E-cigarettes may be beneficial in the small number of smokers who use them to quit smoking completely and promptly, but there is a huge uncertainty about their effectiveness and the overall balance of risks and benefits for quitting."  

Professor Slevin also said that “for smokers who are legitimately trying to quit using vapes, the prescription model pathway is and should be in place."

“But that should not be at the cost of creating a new generation of nicotine addicts among children and young people.”

The rising rates of vaping in Australia are certainly cause for concern, particularly given the potential risks associated with e-cigarette use. 

While it's important to continue monitoring this trend, it's also important to remember that e-cigarettes are just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to tobacco control. 

There's also something to say when it comes to the fact that the government is banning e-cigarette products, yet other harmful products like cigarettes and alcohol are still very accessible to the general public. It's also difficult to determine whether the recent ban is genuinely in the plight of public health, or whether it's yet another move to increase the hold on what we, as Australians, can or can't do.

To truly reduce the harm caused by tobacco use, we need a comprehensive approach that includes education, regulation, and support for smokers who want to quit.