Good morning I am Professor Anne Kelso.
We play an important role providing health advice for the
Australian community based on the best Australian and
international evidence and that would complement our role at
the Australian government's major funder of health and
medical research in our universities and institutes and
hospitals, reducing the evidence we need to improve
health and well-being of the Australian community.
So today we are here to release the latest national advice on
e-cigarettes. We think this is timely, we
know many parents in schools and health practitioners and
our cheap offices around the country are worried about e-
igarettes. The use of e-cigarettes from
children and young people can affect their health and that
can lead to future impact on families, community and the
health system. The 2022 CEO statement on
electronic cigarettes is the end result of an extensive
analysis of the evidence on the harms and benefits of e-
igarettes use. It replaces our previous
version made in 2017. The more we have learned since
the last CEO statement, e- igarettes use has also
increased over time, particularly among young people
aged 14 to 24. And B understand more now that
the reasons people take up e- igarettes.
We know the number of e- igarettes related calls to
Australia's poisons information centres has doubled between
2020 and 2021. And so this statement has been
developed over the last two
years. It has evolved an analysis of
many studies and systematic reviews by an expert committee.
It has involved independent assessment of the methods used
in the systematic reviews. There has been targeted
consultation with the Chief medical or health offices of
the Commonwealth and each state and territory and finally there
has been peer review of the statement by independent
experts. The evidence in this statement
can be used by governments to underpin policy decisions and
public health messages. The summary of the evidence on
the health risks from e- igarettes use will also be
helpful to people in the general community to make
informed decisions about e- igarettes use.
We hope this evidence will make its way into conversations
around the country, whether across the dinner table, on the
bus, the car, school assemblies, amongst friends, sports
training, anywhere where people get together as well as with
people's GPs. If returned to e-cigarettes
themselves, the design and technology behind them
continues to evolve with the method is basically the same
for all of them. They deliver substances
directly to the lungs and those substances can be harmful.
Based on the review of the evidence that our committee has
undertaken, we have found that the liquids can contain
nicotine it -- even if they are unable nicotine free and I
think we all understand nicotine is the addictive
component of tobacco cigarettes stop but this isn't just about
nicotine, more than 200 chemicals have been identified
in the liquids used in e- igarettes and they have the
potential to harm people's health.
So for people who do not currently smoke, there are no
health benefits of using e- igarettes.
If you have never used e- igarettes, now is not the time
to start. Use of e-cigarettes can result
in seizures, poisoning and a condition.
E-cigarettes or vaping and initiated lung injury.
It can cause throat irritation, cough, dizziness, headaches and
nausea and we don't get know enough about the potential
effects of e-cigarettes use on conditions such as cancer,
cardiovascular, reproductive health, respiratory health and
mental illness. The evidence is not yet clear
on the effectiveness of e- igarettes as an aid to give up
smoking. E-cigarettes are not a proven
cessation aid for smoking. No brand of e-cigarettes has
been evaluated or approved by our TGA, Therapeutic Goods
Administration, is a smoking cessation aid.
Smokers should try other smoking cessation aids in
conjunction with health advice first, for example from the GP
or Quit services. Short-term e-cigarettes use may
help some tobacco smokers who previously have been
unsuccessful with other smoking cessation aids.
But not everyone finds e- igarettes help them quit and
there is uncertainty around the evidence on the effectiveness
of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
Research has found that when smokers use nicotine in e-
igarettes, it was more common for them to become dual users
of e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes than to quit.
Dual users breathe in what chemicals and toxins that
people only using one type of cigarette.
So I would like to make an appeal and if you are thinking
about e-cigarettes, please get the facts.
The evidence is here. So I now invite Australia's
Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly to speak briefly on
the CEO statement. >> I would like to support
Anne's comments and how important this is is a public
health issue, and it is five years on, hard to believe it is
five years since the last version of this statement but
there is a lot more known as Anne has suggested.
And this update of the evidence to inform public health
decision-making is very timely. E-cigarettes or vaping products
are an emerging issue in Australia.
The latest data shows that e- igarette usage is growing,
particular and specifically in the younger age groups.
One in five people aged 18 to 24 who have never smoked,
reported having tried e- igarettes.
Only one in three people have used e-cigarettes reported that
they use them to help quit
smoking. Most people are using them
recreationally. Increased use of e-cigarettes
is a shared concern amongst my fellow Chief Health Officer's
and medical officers in all of the states and territories.
In fact one of my colleagues has said recently that e-
igarettes are the next big health issue after COVID.
And I think that is an important statement to take on
board. Reducing the risks posed by e-
igarettes is complex. And it requires a multifaceted
approach. The release of this CEO
statement on electronic cigarettes is very important
and most welcomed as it outlines the best available
evidence to inform policymakers on this issue.
The CEO statement is backed by comprehensive evidence as
Professor Kelso has mentioned. What is clear to me from the
statement is that the only thing we should be breathing
and is there. There is no -- is care.
There is no question there is potential harm is from e-
igarettes use from those who have never smoked.
.. Nieces and nephews, students, players in your
football or netball team, brothers and sisters, we did
that conversation out there, we need these matters to be
barbecue stoppers. The CEO statement on electronic
cigarettes is for all of us. And it provides advice about
the health risks from e- igarettes as well as wasted
make those informed decisions to have our daily lives more
healthy. For ourselves and our children.
So thank you Anne for your leadership on this...
Audio Loz >> Proportion of young people
taking up smoking e-cigarettes, how much of a concern is it?
And is there any evidence that... Taking up this practice
in earlier years? >> I don't at hand have the
data on take-up of smoking but we do know take-up of e-
igarettes has increased over the last five years across
almost every age group and it is particularly in that group
of 14-24. And I think we all have
anecdotal experience in seeing how common this is amongst
young people. >> How much of a concern is it
that they may not be able to knock that addiction, it might
be an issue down the track for young people two
>> I think it is a deep concern and obviously the case people
are using nicotine containing e-cigarettes and they may not
know they are using nicotine containing e-cigarettes because
many of them have dictate even when they are labelled nicotine
free. We know it is highly addictive
and we know how many people once addicted, wish to give up.
I think that is a concern and we are also very concerned
about the direct damage to the lungs of the mini but more than
200 different substances we know e-cigarettes can contain,
and in many cases we know will cause actual damage to the lung.
And then there is the concern - the lung.
And the Caqueret affect which leads people, if you are
familiar with smoking, so there are multiple levels of harm and
young people are particularly vulnerable to the advertising
and other sorts of influences on peer group pressure that can
lead them down a path they will regret in the future.
>> I know you are satisfied with the controls in place for
young people trying to buy see -- purchase e-cigarettes over-
he-counter? >> There is no control in the
access to the e-cigarettes, that is the government, but we
will stick with the elements analysed by our committee.
>> Just on the comments we saw this money from the Health
Minister about the possibility of text messages are letting
people, COVID positive patients for possible antiviral
treatments, what are your thoughts on that?
>> The minister gave a long press conference yesterday,
talked a lot about COVID and where we are up to with that
and winter planning so I will leave those to him.
In terms of the use of treatments for COVID,
absolutely, it is an important thing and I back the statements
made by the Minister.
>> Professor Kelly, to say e- igarette use is the next
biggest issue after COVID, are you concerned with the amount
of education that is around e- igarettes in schools and
government advertising? >> I was attributing that one
of my state colleagues, but I do agree, it is of concern and
have been concerned about e- igarettes for quite some time.
It is something we absolutely need to talk more about and I
think the statement that has been released later that on the
page and supported by social media as well, I think it has
been all that is part of this process, to get people to talk
about this matter in a way that probably has not been done
enough in recent years. The evidence to me is growing
about the gateway issue that Professor Kelso mentioned, and
people who take up e-cigarettes are more likely to is
continuing with smoking for the rest of their lives and we know
the devastation it has had in Australia over many decades.
Nicotine is a very addictive drug.
We need to make our efforts very strong with our young
people to protect them from that lifelong issue, if that is
the way it is leaving. >> Back in the COVID treatment,
50,000 doses have been administered with millions in
storage, do you expect -- to support expanding treatment for
people under the age of 65, treatment for the greater
population? >> We have medical advice and
clinical advice in relation to the usage, and as you know both
of the medications the Minister talked about yesterday, oral
medications, are available on the pharmaceutical benefits
scheme and can be given by prescription from a GP or other
medical provider. That has led to an increase in
the use since 1 June went the second of those became
available on the PBS, and yesterday was about and we will
continue to work with the government on these matters, it
is to get the message out to people who are eligible, as
well as to GPs and others who can prescribe to make sure that
the use is optimised. I think the Minister spoke
about that yesterday so I won't repeat the message but very
important part of that message was one we have been talking
about which is making sure that people who are in the high risk
group, mostly older people, people with chronic disease, at
high risk of severe COVID, happy conversation with their
medical provider now. Don't wait for the time you
might be diagnosed, because early treatment is the key.
Have a COVID treatment plan, just like we do with asthma and
other issues.
>> There has been stories with the antiviral treatments, maybe
people don't know much about it but they try to access and
there are barriers and they have to get a PCR test and that
has time when it is needed to get early.
Is that why you are saying to plan for this beforehand?
What is your advice to people in that category?
>> Just to pick up on one of those things, the rapid antigen
test or PCR is enough to be eligible for that, and the
other categories at risk, they are well known by general
practitioners and others. We need to increase the
awareness in the community, and I will stress again and
reinforce with the minister said, now is the time if you
are in those vulnerable groups to have a conversation so you
know exactly what you're going to be doing in those
circumstances, know exactly where you can access those
medications and how to use them. The earlier the better, they
are proven to decrease the risk of severe disease and even
death for people who are in those vulnerable groups.
It is not for everyone, most people with COVID will have a
relatively mild disease, particularly if they have been
vaccinated. This is not an alternative to
vaccination, it is an extra protection for vulnerable
people. Thank you very much.