LETTERS: I refer to the report on a panel discussion on vaping with the headline "Learn from NZ and UK" to reduce smoking. The message from the discussion is that e-cigarettes and vaping can help to quit smoking.
In this regard, the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health of Australian National University carried out research on worldwide contemporary evidence on health outcomes relating to e-cigarettes and published a 361-page report.
The report states that the use of e-cigarettes results in the inhalation of a complex array of aerosolised chemicals, including nicotine, originating from the e-liquid, chemical reactions in the heating coil and the device itself.
Toxicological studies indicate that exposure to these substances can result in adverse health effects. The other findings of the research included:
Non-smokers who start e-cigarette use are three times more likely than non-e-cigarette users to take up smoking;
FORMER smokers who use e-cigarettes are twice as likely to relapse to smoking than non-e-cigarette users;
E-cigarettes are either ineffective as a stop aid or no more effective than safer alternatives, including those approved for therapeutic use; and
The use of e-cigarette in Australia is highest among youths.
Of great concern is the growing body of research suggesting a possible relationship between e-cigarette use and the uptake and escalation of smoking among young people.
Research, published in the journal Addiction, shows that 14-year-olds who use e-cigarettes are five times as likely to take up smoking by age 17, and three times as likely to be frequent smokers.
The new study tracked more than 10,000 adolescents from 2012 to 2019 and found that there was a strong relationship between e-cigarette use and smoking.
We should heed Johns Hopkins University's Professor of Medicine, Dr Michael Baha's warning that "we might be causing the next smoking epidemic through young people getting addicted to e-cigarettes early in life".
Our Generational Endgame law is the answer to preventing this potential epidemic. So, parliamentarians, get on with it.
Mohideen Abdul Kader
President
Consumers Association of Penang
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times