Comment: Vape epidemic finally smokes out Palaszczuk

New legislation aimed at vaping has come years too late, imagine how many kids might have swerved e-cigarette addiction if the government had acted sooner, writes Kylie Lang.

Good of the Palaszczuk Government to wake up to the epidemic that is killing our kids’ lungs – it’s only taken five years.

Legislation was introduced to Queensland parliament this week to crack down on vaping, and there’ll be a parliamentary inquiry to reveal “the truth” about e-cigarettes.

The Courier-Mail revealed the truth in January last year.

We did a wide-ranging investigation, at which point Education Minister Grace Grace ignored the science and the evidence from principals and said vaping was “no bigger issue than kids bringing cigarettes to schools in my day”.

We told of students as young as 10 being caught with e-cigarettes and teens vaping in class on smoking devices disguised as highlighter pens.

We said teachers rated vaping as the most serious disciplinary issue as more and more schools installed detectors in bathrooms.

Law-breaking suppliers are selling vapes to kids under 18.

And we exposed law-breaking suppliers selling vapes to kids under 18.

As part of our investigation, I also spoke to Cancer Council Queensland, which said the state government had ignored years of warnings and failed to commit to stronger action to “prevent another generation becoming addicted to dangerous chemicals that are sucked into their lungs”.

Then CEO Chris McMillan said all governments had promised to tackle the “unfolding public health crisis” as early as 2017, and a 2021 attempt to get Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath on board had come to nothing.

I also shared Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data that showed use of e-cigarettes by 15-to-24-year-olds doubled in the three years to 2019.

And findings published in the journal Addiction – that 14-year-olds who use e-cigarettes are five times more likely to take up smoking by age 17 as non-users, and three times more likely to be frequent smokers.

Research on the Lung Foundation Australia website revealed e-liquids are inaccurately labelled and contain toxic chemicals including nicotine.

And if that wasn’t enough to get politicians to pay more than lip service to the problem, there have been cases of teens in Australia and overseas suffering serious health issues from extended vaping, including stroke and death.

But never mind.

14-year-olds who use e-cigarettes are five times more likely to take up smoking by age 17 as non-users.

Then in April 2022, this newspaper published findings of a three-year report by the Australian National University.

Lead review author Emily Banks said e-cigarettes “cause addiction, seizures, poisoning, lung injury, and trauma and burns”.

“We’re seeing these small devices having the equivalent nicotine of more than 10 packets of cigarettes in them, and they are all sorts of flavours that are really targeting children, like bubblegum, fairy floss, strawberries and cream,” Professor Banks said.

Grace Grace was immovable, standing by her January comment that, essentially, the issue was “no biggie”.

What has prompted the Premier to finally meet reality is anyone’s guess.

Now that her publicity campaign of “keeping Queenslanders safe” during Covid is over, is the new version “keeping Queensland kids safe”?

Because if it is, that horse has bolted – exactly like youth crime, which Annastacia Palaszczuk and her sidekicks have been pathetically slow to address and completely ineffective at curbing.

Did you see the video on the Courier-Mail website on Tuesday?

Students of Emmaus College in Rockhampton filmed themselves vaping in a toilet block, swearing and mocking the school’s motto “light my way”, then posted it on social media platform TikTok. We understand some 30 kids were suspended.

Ms Grace said the video was “an example of exactly why we have called a parliamentary inquiry into vaping … people, particularly young people, need to be aware of what is in vapes and what the potential dangers are”.

Minister, does that mean you’re finally acknowledging the issue is bigger than cigarette smoking when you were at school in the 1960s and ’70s?

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk speaks during Question Time at Parliament House. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

Ms Palaszczuk indicated earlier this week she might be coming around to that realisation herself.

“I’m hearing accounts of children in primary schools vaping during their lunch hours, so I think we need an educational campaign to really inform the public about what is actually in these vapes,” she said on Sunday.

“The long-term consequences could end up being as severe, if not more severe, than smoking,” she said.

And on Monday she told Today: “We want the facts on the table.

“I want the health professionals to come forward (they already have, umpteen times) and the companies to disclose what is actually in their products (how do you propose to make this happen, Premier?).

“This is a big issue out there, everyone is talking about it.”

Yes, we know. The Courier-Mail has been reporting on it for years.

Imagine how many kids might have been spared falling prey to e-cigarettes if the government had paid attention and acted sooner.

Kylie Lang is Associate Editor of The Courier-Mail

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