Tobacco Harm Reduction Senate committee in AU

Hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel with this AU liquid nicotine vape ban looming.

Tobacco Harm Reduction
On 6 October 2020, the Senate resolved to establish a Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction.

The committee will inquire into tobacco reduction strategies, with particular reference to:

1. the treatment of nicotine vaping products (electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco) in developed countries similar to Australia (such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the European Union and United States), including but not limited to legislative and regulatory frameworks;
2. the impact nicotine vaping products have had on smoking rates in these countries, and the aggregate population health impacts of these changes in nicotine consumption;
3. the established evidence on the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation treatment;
4. the established evidence on the uptake of e-cigarettes amongst non- smokers and the potential gateway effect onto traditional tobacco products;
5. evidence of the impact of legalising nicotine vaping products on youth smoking and vaping rates and measures that Australia could adopt to minimise youth smoking and vaping;
6. access to e-cigarette products under Australia’s current regulatory frameworks;
7. tobacco industry involvement in the selling and marketing of e-cigarettes; and
8. any other related matter.

The resolution establishing the committee is available in the Journals of the Senate No. 67 - Tuesday, 6 October 2020.

The committee is due to report by 1 December 2020.

Submissions
Submissions are due by 5 November 2020.

Information for submitters (PDF 57KB)

Committee Secretariat contact:
Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 3583
Fax: +61 2 6277 5719
tobaccoharmreduction.sen@aph.gov.au

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...e/Tobacco_Harm_Reduction/TobaccoHarmReduction

When is Greg Hunt getting the elbow? He needs to go.

As all submissions to this enquiry are shown public I was having a look thru submissions made to date. Saw this excellent submission made and thought I'd share it here..

Taxpayers Protection Alliance, 1401 K Street, NW, Suite 502,
Washington D.C. 20005
www.protectingtaxpayers.org

November 2, 2020

Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction
Department of the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Committee Members,

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), a Washington, D.C. based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) d edicated to representing taxpayers and consumers, thanks you for the opportunity to contribute to the inquiry into tobacco harm reduction in Australia, and in particular your request on the treatment of nicotine vaping products outside of Australia. It is the strong position of TPA that the overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that nicotine vaping products (e-cigarettes), as well as “heat not burn” devices, represent a
tremendous life-saving opportunity. Any continued prohibition on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in Australia will have no other result than more people smoking combustible tobacco and dying as a result.
It is important to note that smoking related deaths are attributed to the smoke caused by the process of combustion itself and not to nicotine, itself a relatively benign substance. Nicotine, while addictive, is merely a mild stimulant similar to caffeine. As such, a new generation of harm-reduction devices have emerged which provide nicotine (in a similar manner to nicotine patches and gums) while simulating the smoking experience, thus making it easier for smokers to quit. These include both personal vaporizers, with which former smokers can consume nicotine through vapor inhalation, as well as technologies in which tobacco is “heated” rather than burned.
Unfortunately, rather than encourage these proven technologies, current Australian government policy continues to prevent consumers unable to quit smoking from using them.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in Australia – the cause of one in every eight deaths – yet the latest data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) estimated that 11.6% of adults smoked daily in 2019, a figure only marginally smaller than in 2013 despite the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco and the highest tobacco excise tax in the world. This is in sharp contrast to places such as the US, UK, and Europe(broadly) which have embraced life-saving new technologies such as reduced-risk ENDS with remarkable results.
Millions of smokers have successfully quit smoking through the use of ENDS products. While Australian smoking rates have plateaued, smoking rates in the U.K. and the United States have declined to record lows due to the availability of safer and more effective alternatives to tobacco.
As alternatives to traditional smoking products are developed, tested, refined and ultimately improved based on consumer use and response as well as technological advancements, e-cigarettes demonstrate the potential to be a significant benefit to public health, with even greater results as the technology develops further. Extrapolating from comprehensive peer-reviewed research by George Washington University Medical Center involving 11 of the world’s leading tobacco researchers, if a majority of smokers in the Commonwealth of Australia quit smoking through the use of e-cigarettes over the next ten years, more than 500,000 lives would be saved.
In sharp contrast to Australia, leading health bodies and governments throughout the world are encouraging smokers to “make the switch” to ENDS products. This is not surprising, given the overwhelming evidence of the effectiveness of products that are “around 95 percent less harmful than smoking,” and pose no threat to bystanders ia “passive smoking.” Despite ill-informed criticism of these conclusions, these statements are reflective of hundreds of analyses and meta-analyses on the subject. A U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on e-cigarettes found that, based on the available evidence, “e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes.” In late 2019, a new, groundbreaking study demonstrated that smokers who switch to vaping have a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and stroke) within a month. In January 2019, the New England Journal of Medicine found unequivocally that e-cigarettes are nearly twice as effective as conventional nicotine replacement products (such as patches and gum) for quitting smoking. A further study, released on May 22, 2020 by the Society for the Study of Addiction, found even higher success rates of up to three times that of other therapies.
The evidence through multiple peer reviewed studies clearly shows that e-cigarettes, and in particular flavored products, are driving the trend away toward combustible cigarettes and not the other way around. A recent study which tracked the habits of approximately 250,000 youth ages 13-15 from 1998 through 2015 found that the surge in e-cigarette use has not led to the “renormalization” of regular cigarette use. In November 2019, a large scale study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research found that, “the apparent relationship between e-cigarette use and current conventional smoking is fully explained by shared risk factors, thus failing to support claims that e-cigarettes have a causal effect on concurrent conventional smoking among youth.”
In addressing the Committee’s request for information on “potential gateway effect onto traditional tobacco
products” and youth initiation, TPA recognizes that youths should not use ENDS products and supports restricting the sale and marketing of these products to persons aged 18 and older. However it is vital to note that fewer than 1 percent of US adolescents who have tried an e-cigarette went on to became established cigarette smokers. In addition, adolescent initiation with e-cigarettes has been found to be associated with a reduced risk of subsequent cigarette smoking. This suggests that, “e-cigarettes were unlikely to have acted as a gateway towards cigarette smoking and may, in fact, have acted as a gateway away from smoking for vulnerable adolescents.” In addition, other studies have found that any and all apparent relationships between e-cigarette use and current conventional smoking is “fully explained by shared risk factors.”
It is further noted that while some media reports have attempted to argue that there is an “epidemic” of youth vaping in the United States, these reports are not borne out by the evidence. These reports frequently conflate teenagers trying a puff of a vape at a party versus regularly using these products. Surveys routinely classify someone as a vaper if that person has tried even one puff in a 30-day period, resulting in artificially high rates. A comprehensive analysis of the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) in the United States found that “data from the NYTS do not support claims of a new epidemic of nicotine addiction stemming from use of e-cigarettes, nor concerns that declines in youth tobacco addiction stand to be reversed after years of progress.” Similarly in the UK, while 40.5 percent of 15-year-olds reported ever having tried a vape, habitual vaping (i.e., those who vape weekly or more often) was estimated at just 3.9 percent
In conclusion, Australia’s misguided regulatory policies are denying hundreds of thousands of smokers the ability to successfully quit their deadly habit through a product that is proven 95 percent safer than combustible tobacco, and more than twice as effective as traditional nicotine replacement therapies. We strongly urge you to act on the basis of the evidence, and recommend the Australian Government reverse course, and rescind this failed policy. Over half a million lives depend on it.

Regards,
Tim Andrews
Senior Fellow