Latest news with #vaping
News.com.au
18 hours ago
- Health
- News.com.au
Albanese government praises ‘critical' program in teen vape fight
The Albanese government is celebrating after a key study found an anti-vaping program is helping curb the spike in fuming teens. A randomised controlled trial involving some 5000 students from 40 schools found participants were 65 per cent less likely to vape after 12 months when compared to students who did not take part in the program. The findings were published on Tuesday in the world leading health journal, The Lancet. Health Minister Mark Butler praised the results, calling the program 'a critical part of our vaping strategy'. 'Vaping rates exploded, especially in the last five years, literally exploded year on year,' Mr Butler told reporters at Parliament House, flanked by students. 'This was sold to countries around the world as a therapeutic good that would allow hardened smokers, usually in middle age, to kick the habit if other attempts to kick smoking had not worked. 'But what we found relatively quickly was this was quite a different strategy by big tobacco. 'It was a strategy to recruit a new generation to nicotine addiction.' He said he was 'delighted we have been able to fund' the program, run by the Our Futures Institute. Under the program, students learn about the harms of vaping through visual stories and game-like activities, such as quizzes. In 2019, 9.6 per cent of teens aged 14-17 were estimated to have used vapes, according to official data. It nearly tripled to 28 per cent by 2023. Earlier this year, the Albanese government said numbers the numbers were falling after a series of measures aimed at curbing the uptake among young Australians. Among the measures were banning single-use vapes. According data put out in January, vaping rates for Australian 15 and had fallen more than a third since 2023. The data also showed the number of 'never-vapers' among 14-17-year-olds had reached a record high of 85 per cent.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Walsall Council displays sculpture made from seized vape boxes
An art sculpture made of empty boxes from approximately 4,000 seized illicit vapes is on display to the public in an attempt to spotlight the potential harms of sculpture, which is a large-scale model of a pair of lungs and a heart, will be on display at Walsall Council House this artwork was part of a collaborative project between Walsall College and Walsall Council's Trading Standards and Public Health Council said the aim was to raise awareness of the harm associated with vaping, especially to young people, and stressed the issues of vaping illicit products. The 4,000 vape boxes which comprise the lungs had been seized by the council's Trading Standards and provided to the college to create the artwork last statue was officially unveiled at Walsall College in June 2024, and over the last six months has been on display in secondary schools across the Walsall borough to support ongoing health and wellbeing Council House will now host the sculpture until September, and people can visit the artwork and also find out more about the smoking support on offer from services, including Be Well Walsall and the Quit with Bella app. Councillor Gary Flint said: "We're delighted to host this powerful sculpture at the Walsall Council House. "It serves as a reminder of the dangers posed by illicit vapes, which often contain unknown substances and exceed legal puff limits, making them harmful to people of all ages, including adults."The project is a great example of how art, education and public health can come together to protect our communities."Councillor Adam Hicken added: "This sculpture is a striking visual reminder of the scale of the problem we're tackling. "These products are not only harmful but often linked to wider criminal activity." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
VCU toxicologist: ‘No vape is safe'
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The trend of vaping use has picked up speed across the United States, particularly among young adults. But as cool as the smoking devices appear, Virginia Commonwealth University Forensic Toxicologist Dr. Michelle Peace says the e-cigarettes are doing more harm than good. Her candid message — no vape is safe. She has discovered in her research that 95% of all compounds in vape products are not safe to inhale. 'The framework exists for protecting the consumer,' Peace said. 'So enforcement really needs to happen full throttle. Probably just as important is education, as misinformation about vaping is rampant.' It's been her mission to expose the hidden toxic chemicals, as most users are in the dark about what they're actually inhaling. 'The primary compounds that make up a vape liquid are propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin,' she said. 'There are compounds such as ethyl acetate that are used as a flavoring chemical.' Ethyl acetate is also used in fingernail polish remover. 'So there are compounds that are used as industrial solvents to clean equipment and brakes, and the food industry uses them as a solvent for flavoring chemicals. That doesn't mean that they're safe to inhale.' So far, the has authorized 39 tobacco and menthol flavored e-cigarette products, though she says there are too many that are unregulated and without quality testing. 'We have found that the products that are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration do have significantly fewer chemicals in them,' she said, 'where, in an unauthorized product, we might find 15 to 20 different chemicals. And then, in an authorized product, we might find five or six. That's significantly less. But nonetheless, there's still chemicals that can harm people and their tissue.' Users can develop a hacking cough, dried out lung tissue or even worse. 'There are some really interesting studies that are coming out that demonstrate that vaping is changing your DNA,' she said. 'There's an indication that maybe your body is 13 years older than a non vapor. Through a project funded by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, vapes are confiscated on school campuses in the Commonwealth and sent to VCU for testing. For those indirectly inhaling vapes, there's still a second-hand risk. And the bigger issue, according to Peace, is many people are using vapes to consume other drugs. has reported more than 2,800 vaping hospitalizations nationwide. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Lung damage, poor brain development, addiction: What vaping does to the body
SINGAPORE - Vapes, e-cigarettes, dab pens, pod-mods, and vaporisers – whatever they are called, an increasing number of younger people think they are cool, easy to use undetected, and safer than cigarettes. But experts warn that vaping is a silent killer, its seemingly less harsh candy, dessert and fruit flavours hiding its ability to cause harm without immediate, obvious symptoms. In fact, the vaping device, which looks like a pen or a lighter, is more harmful than cigarettes, said Dr Puah Ser Hon, who heads the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. 'The vape device is more harmful than a stick of cigarette. There is an end point with a cigarette when it burns out. The device is run on battery, allowing the user to continuously vape until the battery runs out,' said Dr Puah, who is also the chair of the Smoking Cessation Workgroup at NHG Health. He told The Straits Times that the liquid in the e-cigarette device has various chemicals that are not restricted or checked at all. Vape devices were previously marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, driving people to vape and exposing them to various harmful chemicals that lead to lung damage, nicotine addiction, and other health problems. The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that apart from nicotine - which is highly addictive and particularly dangerous to youth because their brains are still developing - aerosol from e-cigarettes can contain harmful substances including cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into lungs. According to the American Lung Association, the dangerous chemicals produced include acetaldehyde, acrolein, and formaldehyde, which can cause lung and heart disease; and acrolein, a herbicide used to kill weeds, which can cause acute lung injury and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and may cause asthma and lung cancer. In addition, experts have warned about the risks of inhaling secondhand e-cigarette emissions, because bystanders may breathe in substances such as nicotine and toxic chemicals within the vapour. To make things worse, the use of vapes and e-cigarettes is a brewing global crisis – crime syndicates are packing potent and addictive substances into the devices, such as etomidate, an anaesthetic, and more youth are getting hooked on drugs. In Singapore, where vaping is illegal, there has been a rise in related offences – there were roughly 8,000 cases of e-cigarette use in 2023, a 43 per cent jump from the 5,600 similar offences recorded in 2022. The Government has announced it was enhancing current enforcement laws, following a spike in seizures of drug-laced e-vaporisers. Dr Puah said some people have reported an asthma-like attack shortly after vaping, where the airways get constricted and they feel breathless. In some instances, users suffered E-cigarette or Vaping product Use-associated Lung Injury (Evali). 'They can come in with severe respiratory failure where the oxygen levels are super low and they need to go into the intensive care unit. (As) they need help with breathing... we have to attach them to a mechanical (ventilator) that pumps oxygen and help them breathe,' Dr Puah said. 'There are people who do not survive this. Some who survived may live on with scars in the lungs and they end up having permanent symptoms like cough and breathlessness,' he added. Washing out popcorn lungs Another health problem related to vaping is pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, or popcorn lungs, a rare disease in which protein and fatty material build up in the air sacs of the lungs, making breathing difficult. Renovation site supervisor Muhammad Dandiar Rosli, 34, who suffered from the condition had to undergo lung washing, not once but twice – in 2020 and then again in 2021. The procedure, called whole lung lavage, is the primary treatment for popcorn lungs. Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is the only hospital in Singapore that performs it. Carried out in the operating theatre, and performed on one lung at a time while the patient is under anaesthesia, whole lung washing uses warm sterile saline to wash away abnormal build-up of protein from the lung. The patient has a double lumen tube inserted through the mouth and into the windpipe to isolate the left and right lungs from each other. A large volume of saline is infused sequentially into one lung while the patient is ventilated through the other, and the saline is drained out through a bronchoscope until the liquid extracted turns from milky to almost clear. The whole process takes three to four hours, after which the patient is returned to the intensive care unit and the procedure is repeated for the other lung after one to two weeks. Because vaping is still very new, so there is still a lot to learn about the long term health effects. Add drugs into the chemical cocktail, and the health risks increase exponentially. Teens who vape more likely to have poor mental health On Feb 26, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a written parliamentary reply that there were 2,000 cases of students, including those from institutes of higher learning, reported for possessing or using e-vaporisers in 2024. This is up from 800 cases in 2022, and 900 cases in 2023. The problem is exacerbated by easy access to a vaping fix – vapes are cheaper than cigarettes and can be found on messaging groups, according to users and parents in previous ST reports. Many users would scan through a series of Telegram groups to pick a seller based on price and a 'delivery man' would be meet them with an e-vaporiser laced with etomidate within two hours. Some youth turn to vaping as a coping mechanism for stress and other negative emotions, perhaps unaware that it could be harm them more than it harms adults. Exposure to potent psychoactive substances such as etomidate or ketamine through vaping hampers the adolescent brain from developing normally, said Dr Elaine Chew Chu Shan, head of the Adolescent Medicine Service at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital. 'The adolescent brain is still undergoing critical development, particularly in areas like the prefrontal cortex that governs impulse control, decision-making, and emotional regulation, and is particularly vulnerable to the exposure to drugs,' she said, adding that it can have 'long-term changes in brain structure and function'. Another doctor explained that 'youths also metabolise drugs differently than adults, which may lead to unpredictable side effects'. 'Sedatives such as etomidate can potentially affect memory, cognition or emotional regulation,' said Dr Clare Anne Fong, a consultant with the Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine at National University Hospital (NUH) and Alexandra Hospital. Dr Chee Tji Tjian, a senior consultant with NUH's Department of Psychological Medicine, explains how two chemicals in vaping liquids impact users. 'Nicotine mimics natural neurotransmitters and alters neuron communication, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which governs decision-making and self-control,' he said. Etomidate poses additional risks by suppressing brain activity, and 'potentially causing long-term neurotoxic effects, including increased vulnerability to emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and depression, though research remains limited', Dr Chee added. With both substances disrupting the dopamine system, which is a network of nerve cells in the brain that use dopamine to communicate, they raise the risk of addiction and persistent behavioural problems. Dr Chee said while some ill effects of vaping may improve with early cessation, changes to brain function, especially with repeated exposure, can persist into adulthood, raising the possibility of long-term neurodevelopmental harm. Psychiatrist Adrian Wang, who runs his own clinic at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said it is hard to predict who may be vulnerable to such side effects. 'Teenagers with a history of anxiety, depression or past trauma are vulnerable and those with low self-esteem, or impulsive behaviour are also at risk. They may succumb to peer pressure and try these devices out of curiosity, wrongly assuming that they are safe,' he said. '(Drugs such as) etomidate, ketamine and fentanyl can cause loss of consciousness, hallucinations and seizures. Intoxication can be rapid and lead to abnormal behaviour in users before they realise what is happening. It gets them into 'zombie-like' states,' Dr Wang added. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Vape rule requiring removeable batteries being lifted
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said the decision would resolve a current court challenge. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The coalition is revoking the requirement for all vaping devices - including heated tobacco products - to have removable batteries. In a statement published on Thursday, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said the decision - to take effect from 1 September - would resolve a current court challenge by Mason Corporation, which owns the vape shop Shosha. "Cabinet was advised that taking this step was the best way to resolve the case," Costello said. "This decision means the proceedings, which relate to regulations brought in by the Labour government, can be withdrawn." Costello said the move was not expected to increase smoking or vaping rates. The announcement does not affect the coalition's move to ban disposable or single-use vaping devices. That ban kicked in from 17 June. The former Labour government announced the requirement for removable batteries in June 2023 as part of a suite of changes to vaping rules. At the time, then-Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said the move would make the devices safer. The coalition later delayed the regulations from coming into effect until October 2024 "to ensure sufficient availability of appropriate reusable vaping products to continue to support people to quit smoking". Photo: 123RF RNZ last year revealed that Philip Morris had pulled its IQOS [ heated tobacco product (HTPs) from the shelves] due to the regulations around removable batteries. That proved to be a major roadblock to the government's controversial trial of halving excise tax on HTPs to encourage their use as a smoking cessation tool. Philip Morris has since released a new compliant IQOS product with a removeable battery. Documents showed Costello had tried to delay the battery regulations for two years, but Cabinet agreed only to a six-month delay from the original date of 21 March. The minister's support for HTPs as a less harmful alternative to smoking provoked outrage from the opposition parties and health experts who labelled it a "dangerous and radical experiment". Treasury identified a long list of concerns about the proposal at the time, but Costello said she relied on "independent advice" to the contrary .
