"FALSE claims" about the use of e-cigarettes as smoking cessation aids being made by 'big tobacco' lobbyists need to be called out, pharmacist-turned Federal Australian Labor Party MP, Emma McBride believes.
Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, McBride, backed bipartisan calls for the Government to hold firm on plans to limit access to vaporised nicotine and e-cigarettes, noting the Public Health Association of Australia had described vaping as a "Trojan Horse".
"As the only pharmacist in this place and someone trained in nicotine addiction and smoking cessation, I thought it was important to bring the debate about e-cigarettes back to where it should be and to examine some of the key facts," she said
"First, no brand of e-cigarette has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for assisting people to quit smoking.
"Systematic evidence and quality trials have found no conclusive evidence that e-cigarettes are an effective quit aid or that they are more effective than approved, established methods for quitting smoking.
"According to National Health and Medical Research Council reports, e-cigarette use in nonsmokers is associated with future uptake of tobacco cigarette smoking, countering claims that e-cigarette use is mainly by long-term smokers to help them quit.
"The market for e-cigarettes is clearly young people and the tobacco industry's profit drivers to addict a new generation.
"Second, Australia has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world, despite what the lobbyists might tell you.
"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data published in Jul shows daily smoking rates to be at an all-time low of 11%.
"This has been hard fought in the face of strong opposition from big tobacco and vested interests.
"We must call out false claims by lobbyists that reductions in smoking prevalence have stalled or slowed as a means of aggressively promoting e-cigarettes as a quit method.
"Let's debunk a myth: the claim that e-cigarettes are safe or less harmful than smoke cigarettes.
"There is no scientific basis for this claim."
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