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February 15, 2015AMA (NSW) President, Dr Saxon Smith, is congratulating the State Government on producing a bill that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to under 18s.
“With the great work that’s been done in reducing smoking levels in Australia, now is not the time to start a new fad that leads to poor health outcomes, including addiction.
“Removing the smoke from cigarettes does not suddenly make them safe for human consumption,” Dr Smith said.
“Liquids for e-cigarettes can contain nicotine, just like regular tobacco products, even if it doesn’t say so on the package.
“Nicotine is a highly addictive substance which also increases your blood pressure, among other negative health effects.
“It doesn’t matter if it gets into your system through smoke or vapour, it’s still going to affect you the same way.
“So, even if e-cigarettes are better for your lungs, they’re still no good for your heart,” Dr Smith said.
“Great strides have been made in the last few decades in encouraging people not to smoke.
“We’ve reached a point where we have historical low levels of consumption of tobacco products in Australia.
“It would be a shame for this fantastic public health success to be wasted, if take up of e-cigarettes manages to reverse this trend,” Dr Smith said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones (02) 9902 8113 / 0419 402 955