Young believe e-cigarettes are the healthy alternative’ to dodge smoking bans

YOUNG people are using electronic cigarettes not to quit, but because they ‘taste better’, help them dodge smoking bans and are seen as healthy.

Young smokers see e-cigarettes as a healthy alternative and a way to dodge public smoking bans, a study has found. Picture: Mark Cranitch

YOUNG people are increasingly using electronic cigarettes not to quit, but because they “taste better”, help them dodge smoking bans in public places and are seen as a healthy alternative than the real thing.

The findings from a Cancer Institute NSW study of about 3000 NSW smokers and recent quitters has renewed debate over whether e-cigarettes are a valid quit smoking tool, and their long term effects.

But it seems young users have made up their own minds, with the study finding people aged 18 to 29 are the biggest users of the devices.

While adults aged more than 30 are most likely to use e-cigarettes to cut down on smoking or quit, a quarter of young people choose them because they are seen as “not as bad for your health”, say findings published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

A co-author of the study, Dr Anita Dessaix, said the results were concerning because “we currently just don’t know in the long term whether e-cigarettes pose health risks and the evidence isn’t conclusive that they are going to help people quit smoking”.

E-cigarettes are legal in Australia but selling e-cigarettes containing nicotine is banned.

Many circumvent that ban by buying overseas via the internet.

Nine per cent of those surveyed used e-cigarettes but in the 18-29 year-old age group the rate of use was 16 per cent, with most also smoking cigarettes.

Hazy research: “We currently just don’t know in the long term whether e-cigarettes pose health risks,” says study co-author Dr Anita Dessaix. Photo Mark Cranitch.

Experts are concerned about the dual use, as well as the finding that the most common reason young people used e-cigarettes was health.

The most common reasons for using e-cigarettes by those over 30 years of age was “to help me quit” (42 per cent) and to “cut down” smoking (35 per cent); but for or younger adults it was “because they are not as bad for your health as cigarettes” (25 per cent); and “so I can smoke in places where smoking cigarettes is not allowed” (10 per cent).

Dr Dessaix is concerned that the use of e-cigarettes to dodge smoking bans in public “re-normalise” the habit, and the study recommends future research should monitor e-cigarette use in smoke-free environments, as well any impact this has on smokers’ quitting motivations.

The findings come just weeks after the Federal Budget announcement of a new tobacco excise which will see the cost of a pack of cigarettes rise to an estimated $41 by 2020.

The study didn’t canvass whether the cheaper cost of e-cigarettes was an attraction, but “we do know that significant increases on the price of cigarettes are a huge motivator for people to quit, especially among those that can least afford the habit — people from low socio-economic background and young people”, Dr Dessaix said.

“Young people are the most price sensitive to the price increase of cigarettes, so where there is opportunity to quit or get assistance it’s something that warrants interest and attention from smokers,” Dr Dessaix said.

“We’ve seen consistent declines in smoking among adults and teenagers in NSW. We know smoking is as low a 6.8 per cent among teenagers, so we are always going to be a little bit concerned about any alternatives that might see a reversal those types of trends.

Most regular e-cigarette users source their products via the internet, the study found. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

“It’s a concern that we see high usage among the younger end of the age spectrum.

“It’s also important to bear in mind that in countries like the UK and the US we are seeing really high profile, quite glamorous e-cigarette advertising of the type that we used to see decades ago from the tobacco industry.”

Although use of e-cigarettes by tobacco smokers in NSW remains relatively low, it has soared in the US and UK in the past decade.

Proponents of e-cigarettes argue they have a valid place in reducing tobacco harm as a smoking cessation aid. Critics question their worth as a stop smoking aid, as well as their long-term health effects.

Originally published as Young believe e-cigarettes are the healthy alternative’ to dodge smoking bans