E-Cigarettes

When it comes to e-cigarettes, the important message is that they’re not a safe alternative to regular cigarettes. E-cigarettes or vaping, act as nicotine induction items. The nicotine in the vapour is just as addictive as nicotine in a burn product or traditional cigarettes. In light of this, both the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Therapeutic Goods Authority has not registered these as safe.

The Australian Government has real concern that the trendy nature of vaping could attract younger users who have not previously smoked traditional cigarettes. The experience in the US tells us that this is a real danger and one the Government is keen to avoid.

While I certainly understand the argument that vaping will allow for harm minimisation in existing users, in reality we have very low smoking rates that have been the result of consistent long term anti-smoking policies on many levels and the Government doesn’t want to have a reversal of that effective reduction campaign by introducing another way of getting people addicted to nicotine.