The Cancer Council Australia (CCA) has urged smokers to be cautious about overseas research claiming that electronic cigarettes could help them kick their habit, according to a story by Annie Lewis for the Wagga-based Daily Advertiser.
The CCA’s director of advocacy Paul Grogan said that in Australia the jury was very much still out on the health effects of vaping.
Grogan said that while he welcomed international research, such as a recent study by Public Health England, Australian researchers were looking at the “whole picture” before making a determination.
“There is convincing evidence, including a meta-analysis in a respected American journal, showing a clear association between e-cigarette initiation and long-term smoking,” he said.
Grogan said too that Australia needed to keep in mind how well it had done in reducing rates of smoking, and how the biggest investor in the e-cigarette sector was the tobacco industry.
He said that the position of the CCA was very open to evidence-based research, but the emphasis was placed on getting all the facts.
Meanwhile, smokers seem to be taking a different view. The Wagga business, Vaped, was said to have almost sold out of stock in its first week.
“The success rate is big; it definitely works for all our customers,” Vaped owner, Lance Carr, was quoted as saying.
“We do get a lot of repeat customers that come back saying they haven’t smoked because the e-cigarette is working.”
Carr said that while some users bought their own nicotine, that wasn’t the case for the majority.
“We don’t encourage the use of nicotine because it’s illegal to sell it,” he said.
“For a heavy smoker nicotine is recommended but I was surprised when we first opened; I thought it would have been that the majority needed nicotine in their liquids but it’s the opposite.”
E-cigs work without nicotine
