Call for crackdown on importation of liquid nicotine as kids take up vaping

Children as young as 12 are taking up vaping, lured by lolly flavours, in a development health authorities warn could lead to a generation addicted to e-cigarettes.

New research showed vaping could be a gateway to smoking, with three in five Australian young adults who currently used e-cigarettes likely to start smoking regular cigarettes in the next six months. Picture: AFP

Children as young as 12 are taking up vaping — lured with lolly flavours and in the mistaken belief it is safe.

Record numbers of teens and university students are also using e-cigarettes, in a development the Cancer Council has warned could lead to a generation of vapers and undo decades of success in reducing smoking rates.

It comes as Victorian vape (or e-cigarette) retailers market sweet flavours such as Apple Gummy Os, Cereal Pop, Tuck Shop Apple Sours, Candy King, Buttercream, Crumbleberry and Blue Rasberry Ice Sours, despite the fact it is illegal to sell electronic cigarettes to children.

E-cigarette ‘juices’ in come in many flavours.

A Sunday Herald Sun investigation has also found vape retailers are easily getting around laws banning the sale of liquid nicotine or ‘vape juice’ in Victoria by setting up warehouses overseas, and a black market in the scheduled poison is booming.

A Coroner’s Inquest into the case of a Victorian toddler, who is believed to have died after ingesting liquid nicotine last year, is set to start on Monday.

Quit Victoria director Sarah White told the Sunday Herald Sun: “E-cigarettes could be perceived as a cool new gadget and safer than smoking, when, in reality, they’re just another way to get people addicted to nicotine.

“We’ve seen an increase of Australian teens trying or using e-cigarettes over the past three years, up to half of whom were not smokers.”

The Cancer Council wants a crackdown on the importation of liquid nicotine and a ban on recreational vaping, she said.

Far from being a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes, Dr White said vaping could be dangerous and even fatal, with reports of serious injuries and deaths from exploding devices and children being poisoned by liquid nicotine.

Studies show young adults say flavourings are contributing to their initiation of vaping and continued use of e-cigarettes.

Calls to Australian poisons centres about children being exposed to nicotine had increased substantially over recent years, she said.

Studies had shown up to seven in ten ‘vape juices’ claiming to be nicotine free in Australia did in fact contain the addictive substance and the Cancer Council was aware some vape shops were importing liquid nicotine from New Zealand and illegally supplying it to customers, Dr White said.

Findings from the latest Australian Secondary Schools Alcohol and Drug Survey reveal four per cent of 12 year olds and 21 per cent of 17 year olds have vaped.

And a recent report by Curtin University and the Victorian and Western Australian cancer councils analysing data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey shows vaping is increasingly popular with young adults, with 14 per cent of non-smokers aged 18 to 24 years admitting they have vaped.

“It appears that a substantial black market for e-liquids containing nicotine exists in Australia,” the report states.

“The availability of flavourings is cited by young adult e-cigarette users as contributing to their initiation and continued use of the devices.”

Vaping liquid in special flavours.

Curtin researcher Dr Michelle Jongenelis said new research showed vaping could be a gateway to smoking, with three in five Australian young adults who currently used e-cigarettes likely to start smoking regular cigarettes in the next six months.

“We found that young Australian adults who had never smoked but were either currently or had previously used e-cigarettes, were significantly more curious about trying a tobacco cigarette, more willing to smoke, and reported a greater intention of smoking in the next six months compared to those who had never used an e-cigarette,” she said. “The research also found that one in five people who had tried an e-cigarette, even just one or two puffs, and three in five current users reported that they would probably or definitely smoke a tobacco cigarette in the future.”

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And Dr White said there was also evidence to prove inhaling “the aerosol”, from an e-cigarette was not harmless to teens and young adults.

“Therefore e-cigarettes should not be available as a recreational device,” she said.

But Legalise Vaping Australia campaign director Brian Marlow said overseas research had shown e-cigarettes could be an effective way of giving up tobacco smoking.

“Australia’s ongoing prohibitionist approach based on scaremongering about the baseless gateway theory only puts Australian smokers’ lives at risk,” he said.

Originally published as Call for crackdown on importation of liquid nicotine as kids take up vaping