“Young non-smokers who vape are around three times as likely to take up smoking than non-vapers. Nicotine use in children and adolescents can lead to lifelong addiction issues as well as difficulties in concentration and learning. “Vaping is also illegal [in Australia] if it isn't on prescription.”
So many Australian children are now addicted to nicotine from vaping that the federal health minister, Mark Butler, will propose reforms aimed at curtailing the e-cigarette industry. Many children do not know they are consuming the highly addictive chemical until it is too late, experts say.
Health impacts of vaping
These aerosols contain and emit many harmful compounds, including: Formaldehyde and acrolein, which can cause irreversible lung damage. Propylene glycol, which is toxic to human cells.
On 21 December 2020, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) announced a decision that, from 1 October 2021, consumers need a valid prescription to import nicotine vaping products, such as nicotine e-cigarettes, nicotine pods and liquid nicotine.
Moreover, vaping increases the risk a teen will smoke regular cigarettes later. “The addiction to nicotine and later conversion to (or dual use with) regular cigarettes are the greatest concerns,” says Roy S. Herbst, MD, Yale Medicine's chief of medical oncology at Yale Cancer Center.
We found teenagers are readily accessing and using illegal, flavoured, disposable vaping products that contain nicotine. Among the teens surveyed, 32% had ever vaped, at least a few puffs. Of these, more than half (54%) had never previously smoked.
2: Research suggests vaping is bad for your heart and lungs.
It causes you to crave a smoke and suffer withdrawal symptoms if you ignore the craving. Nicotine is a toxic substance. It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack.
The long-term effects of vaping are unknown but vaping has been estimated to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking. Colin Mendelsohn was a Sydney GP for 27 years with a special interest in smoking cessation and now works exclusively in tobacco treatment, helping smokers to quit.
Vaping can lead children and teenagers to start smoking
It can also reduce impulse control for teenagers and even alter their brain development. Studies show that young people who vape regularly are more likely to start smoking than young people who don't vape.
To clarify, from October 1, 2021, you will no longer be able to legally import nicotine vaping products, such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pods and liquid nicotine to Australia.
Vaping is not completely risk-free, but it poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes. The long-term risks of vaping are not yet clear. E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.
Breathing in the harmful chemicals from vaping products can cause irreversible (cannot be cured) lung damage, lung disease and, in some cases, death.
Long-term use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping products, can significantly impair the function of the body's blood vessels, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, the use of both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes may cause an even greater risk than the use of either of these products alone.
As of February 18, 2020, a total of 2,807 hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) cases or deaths have been reported to CDC from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).
addiction: E-cigarettes contain nicotine, a drug that's highly addictive. You don't have to vape every day to get addicted. anxiety and depression: Nicotine makes anxiety and depression worse. It also affects memory, concentration, self-control, and attention, especially in developing brains.
The main ingredient in vapes is propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine or glycerol. Vapes and e-liquids can contain a range of chemicals such as acetone found in nail polish remover, acrolein found in weed killer and 2-cholorophenol found in cleaning products and bug spray.
Vapes can expose young people to: the same harmful chemicals found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, weed killer and bug spray. toxins such as formaldehyde and heavy metals. ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs.