Following recent revelations on the which explored “explosion in vaping amongst young Australians and the booming black market for e-cigarettes”, the University of Sydney has released a study which details the extent of the rapidly health crisis of vaping in Australia.
Associate Professor Becky Freeman at the School of Public Health, Dr Christina Watts, and Sam Egger at the University of Sydney, writing in The Conversation, observed that research about teen vaping in Australia had, until the release of this study, been “very limited.”
Their study, the results of which have been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, sought to “track teenagers’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about using vapes (e-cigarettes)” with findings from the more than 700 teenagers aged 14-17 surveyed indicating that this cohort have ready access to illegal vaping products containing nicotine.
For instance, while only a third of the 32% of teens in the target group who said they had vaped had bought their own vape via friends or a retailer, the vast majority were able to access the products via their friends.
The vast majority of the vapes purchased are disposable in nature, giving the user access to “hundreds, or even thousands of puffs” with flavours such as chewing gum and desserts designed to specifically appeal to the target audience.
High in nicotine, something which applies to even the so-called nicotine-free products because of the use of nicotine salts in their production, vaping products can lead to “poisoning, injuries, burns, toxicity, addiction and lung injury”, with vapes effectively acting as a gateway to smoking.
The authors of the study say that their findings indicate the need for “strong and immediate policy action, including ending the illicit importation and sale of vaping products”, warning if no action is taken that “a whole new generation of Australians [will become] addicted to dangerous products.”
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