Vapes of wrath

by JOHN MOYLE

In the wake of recent reports in the US of a number of vaping-related deaths, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer weighed into the controversy with a statement condemning the practice.
“There is growing evidence implicating e-cigarettes in a range of harms to individual and population health,” Professor Brendan Murphy, Chief Medical Officer, Australia said in a press release issued under the banner of the Department of Health.
The press release went on to claim that, “International evidence is emerging of a possible link between the use of e-cigarettes and lung disease.
“This includes severe lung disease requiring intensive care support and, as at 11 September 2019, at least six fatalities being linked with vaping in the United States.”

Vaping dispute
At the time of writing, the number of deaths in the US attributed to vaping has risen to eight, with more than 380 people hospitalised with vaping-related illnesses across 36 states.
The Trump White House is calling for a ban on all flavoured vaping liquids and legal action has been commenced against three e-liquid manufacturers.
All of this makes for compelling evidence against vapes being sold in Australia, or does it?
“He [the Chief Medical Officer] is incorrect and has the potential to cause more deaths from smoking in Australia,” Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn, foundation chair, Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, said.
“He is not an expert in this field and he is getting his advice from the Health Department and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which is very anti-vaping.”

Professor Mendelsohn joined 27 leading health professionals who all came out in support of vaping as a measure to reduce smoking and issued a statement refuting the Chief Medical Officer’s claims.
Dr Alex Wodak, emeritus consultant at St Vincent’s Hospital, agrees.
“The statement is riddled with errors and he [the Chief Medical Officer] has really got it wrong, and all of the Australian health organisations have also got it wrong.
“I and many other colleagues have been in this place before with methadone treatment, the needle exchange, the medically supervised injecting centres and the heroin trial.”

What has emerged about the deaths linked to vaping in the US is that it has affected mainly young men from a limited number of states and in most cases has been related to the smoking of illicit THC, or cannabis oil, that is suspended in vitamin E acetate.
Vaping has been around for about 10 years and it is estimated that between 40 and 50 million people worldwide vape.
One reason why the US government might be against vaping, or even testing its ability to ween people off smoking, might have something to do with the Tobacco Master Plan Settlement of 1989, when 46 states did a deal with the four largest tobacco companies to not pursue legal action against them if they paid US$206 billion over 25 years, with the payments being linked to the future sale of cigarettes.
Some states saw this as a revenue windfall and issued bonds against the future income, but with the falling rates of smoking, this future has fallen into a US$97 billion negative hole.

Evidence -v- vested interests
While vaping is legal in Australia, the sale of nicotine with the e-liquid is not, and this does not sit well with the signatories.
“We are the only western democracy to ban the sale and use of nicotine and clearly there is not the evidence,” Professor Mendelsohn said.
“In other countries across Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the UK they use it and we see the benefits with lower smoking rates.
“It’s not about the evidence, it is about other things like ideology, political and moral issues and vested interests.”

UK clinical trials and a number of key bodies such as Cancer Research UK, the Royal College of Physicians and the British Medical Association accept that the risk of vaping is unlikely to be less than five per cent of the risk of smoking.
In Sydney, a large vaping community exists online and around the shops that sell vaping supples.
“People are coming in wanting to get off cigarettes because of the costs and the health risks,” Maxim Fitchkin, director of The Steamery at Beaconsfield, says.
Professor Mendelsohn also questioned where the $12.5 billion collected annually in tobacco taxes was spent.

“The Health Minister recently allocated $20 million over four years for education campaigns and lung cancer screening, but this is a fraction of what he received from tobacco taxes and a lot of smokers feel exploited,” Professor Mendelsohn said.
“People who are unable or unwilling to stop smoking can either reduce their risk of death by switching from high risk smoking to much lower risk vaping and many of these will be able to quit,” Dr Wodak said.