Majority want action on vapes

NEW datareveals ninein10Australians want government action to stop Australia’s escalating e-cigarette crisis.

Anew Cancer CouncilVictoria reportshows growing public support for policy action to limit the availability and use of e-cigarettes. Almost nineinten Australianadults(87 per cent) want government action to stop anew generation of Australians from becoming addicted to nicotine.

Other statistics from the report include Australian adults’ agreement with the following statements:

*E-cigarettesshould be carefully regulatedtostop anew generationofAustralians from becoming addicted to nicotine (87 per cent).

*E-cigarettes are highly addictive (81 per cent).

The report was prepared by the Cancer Council Victoria’s Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC)withdatafor collected through the Social Research Centre’s probability based-panel, Life in Australia.

The new data comes just weeksafter the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) received public submissions on proposedreforms to the regulation of nicotine vaping products, urging immediate action on nicotine vaping products.

In these submissions, CancerCouncil Victoria and Quit called for strict border controls on the importation of all vaping products, to support enforcement by Victorian agencies and stop illegal sales.

“Weneed to improve regulation and the enforcement of vaping productstoprotect Australians from the manyimmediate and future healthimpactsof vaping. The lawsthat are in place are insufficient and theyare beingblatantly disregarded”, said the director of Quit, Matthew Scanlon.

The2022Victorian Smoking and Health Survey showed that77,200Victorians who had previously never smoked, had used e-cigarettes in the past year,triplingtheir risk of smoking uptake.The vaping epidemic threatens to undo five decades of world-leading tobacco control in Victoria.

Quit is jointly funded by Department of Health and VicHealth, as aprogramofCancerCouncil Victoria.VicHealthchief executive, Dr Sandro Demaio, has joined public health experts calling foraction.