OPEN conversations, without judgment, is what VicHealth's boss urges Ballarat parents to take up with their children in the face of widespread "predatory" vape behaviour.
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VicHealth chief executive Sandro Demaio said stories of Ballarat young people vaping on buses or detectors installed to combat school toilet blocks "full of vape" were part of a fast-rising global issue targeting young people and big companies vying to "get a new generation addicted".
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Dr Demaio has heard stories of children as young as seven found with e-cigarettes and as young as 12 calling cessation helplines.
"It's an issue that's come out of nowhere in a short period of predatory practice with colours, flavours and cartoons to get people addicted as early as they can to high levels of nicotine," Dr Demaio said.
"...Behaviour, product and approaches are similar to what big tobacco companies were doing 70 years ago. It was 30 years before we had the peak of the cancer epidemic from smoking. It's taken us 70 years to clean up and we're still working hard to get smoking down further."
Dr Demaio pointed to new national figures released last week that young people who take up e-cigarettes were three times more likely to take up cigarette smoking. For the first time in 25 years, cigarette smoking among young people was back on the rise.
Within five years, the number of teenagers who vape had risen from one in 100 to one in seven, the national health department data showed.
He said other countries had issues with companies offering vape starter packs, a little like single cigarette promotional giveaways from decades ago. In Australia, campaigns were more centred on flavours, colours and misleading marketing, such as what Dr Demaio said was "fake research".
Ballarat Community Health health promotion officer Jacinta Walsh told The Courier last week peer pressure in a stream of must-have flavours and glamourising vapes via social media influencers had been key factors hooking in Ballarat teenagers to the habit.
Ms Walsh said Ballarat parents often did not realise most vaping products were packed with toxic chemicals, such as bug spray, linked to cancer.
Dr Demaio said this was why VicHealth welcomed world-first federal reform in Australia last month that made it easier to stamp out illegal trade and "cowboy" behaviour in marketing.
VicHealth has also partnered with Scienceworks and Quit Victoria for a vape cloud sculpture in a bid to better educate families on what was in vape products and what was safe.
Parents and young people can also visit the new website vapingfacts.org.au for facts and VicHealth is working on supports for schools.
"There is no single silver bullet. We need to act and act fast and do everything we can," Dr Demaio said. "...The most important thing [for parents] is don't blame yourselves. This is a purposeful and vicious play from industry to lure in young people and get them addicted. Parents need to understand blame needs to rest with industries making profits.
"Get armed with info on what is in vaping and why it is a problem...It's a difficult issue for our kids to navigate as well."
- For support: Quitline on 13 7848
- Young people can also visit Headspace Ballarat, a general practitioner and school well-being teams
- Ballarat Community Health also offers smoking and vaping cessation support, including free and confidential peer support for young people.
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