This blog is totally independent, unpaid and has only three major objectives.
The first is to inform readers of news and happenings in the e-Health domain, both here in Australia and world-wide.
The second is to provide commentary on e-Health in Australia and to foster improvement where I can.
The third is to encourage discussion of the matters raised in the blog so hopefully readers can get a balanced view of what is really happening and what successes are being achieved.
Quote Of The Year
Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"
or
H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
Sunday, June 02, 2024
I Somehow Think The Chicken Has Flown The Coop On This!
This appeared last week:
E-cigarette use rising in NSW despite vapers saying
they want to quit
The
number of people using vapes in NSW increased last year, but survey data
suggests more than half are considering quitting in the next six months.
According
to figures from the latest NSW Population Health Survey, published by the
Ministry of Health on Friday, almost 19 per cent of people aged 16 to 24
identify as a current user of vapes, also known as e-cigarettes.
Self-reported vaping rates increased in every age group in the 2022-23 survey.
However, among under-35s – who have the highest vaping rates – the increase in
uptake was smaller than the previous year.
Federal
and state governments are cracking down on vaping, amid concerns from health
bodies that the devices have addicted a new generation to nicotine.
On
January 1, the federal government banned importation of disposable vapes,
commonly sold at convenience stores, regardless of whether they contained
nicotine. Further import restrictions were introduced in March, seeking to
limit vaping to solely a smoking cessation aid, prescribed by a doctor.
In
the first quarter of 2024, NSW Health seized more than 124,000 illegal nicotine
e-cigarettes from retailers.
The
efficacy of these measures remains to be seen, but data from a second survey
conducted by state health authorities, Cancer Institute NSW’s Smoking and
Health Survey, suggests vapers are considering quitting their habit at the same
rate as smokers.
Fifty-one
per cent of vapers and 55 per cent of smokers were considering quitting in the
next six months. One in five people who vaped said they had thought about
quitting daily over the past two weeks.
The
survey, conducted in mid-2023 and also published this week, interviewed 1200
adults from across the state, including smokers, vapers and those who did not
smoke or vape.
It
was the first time the survey, also conducted annually, had asked about vaping
habits.
Cancer
Institute NSW CEO Professor Tracey O’Brien said it was great to see that vapers
were considering quitting at the same rate as smokers, as both could cause
considerable health harms.
She
said she was also particularly pleased to see more than 80 per cent of people
aware of vapes agreed they were unsafe to use, up for 73 per cent in 2021.
“[It
is] a sentiment we hope will continue to grow,” she said.
“There
are ongoing efforts in NSW to educate the community about the harms of smoking
and vaping and I applaud everyone working to prioritise their health and
wellbeing.”
However,
O’Brien said health authorities could not be complacent as vaping rates
continued to increase, particularly among young people.
“Like
cigarettes, vapes are also full of harmful chemicals that have been known to
cause cancer and there is growing evidence that young people who vape are more
likely to take up smoking, which can significantly increase their cancer risk,”
she said.
“We
are very concerned that a new generation of people will become addicted to
smoking if vaping use continues to increase in young people, which is why it’s
important that people avoid taking up vaping or seek help to quit.”
The
Cancer Council NSW’s Generation Vape survey of teenagers aged 14 to 17 suggests
a third have tried a vape, half of whom had never previously smoked a
cigarette.
Given
the potency, competitive cost and wide distribution of vapes it is hard to believe that the cat
has not managed to slip out of the bag on this one. There is just too much
money to be made by the illegal sellers and importers of vapes to think they will just
give up this lucrative little side-line!
I
am prepared to bet that if we come back in five years vapes will be well more
common than today.
Does
anyone think I will lose money?
David.
1 comment:
Damien
said...
I would like to see you loose on that o e David. However why this was ever encouraged is beyond me. Seems a pattern - make everything nature delivers illegal but foster a cult of synthetic alternatives that are far worse and outsource management to the cream of society.
1 comment:
I would like to see you loose on that o e David. However why this was ever encouraged is beyond me. Seems a pattern - make everything nature delivers illegal but foster a cult of synthetic alternatives that are far worse and outsource management to the cream of society.
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