THE OUTBAC:) ·.

VAPECAFE

Email: admin@theoutbackvapecafe.com.au

Phone: 02 6242 5023

Attn - Environmental Health Project Team

Health Protection Service

Locked Bag SOOS HOLDER ACT 2611

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Health ACT discussion paper, Options to protect the community from the potential harms associated with personal vaporisers (e-cigarettes). Our

submission is attached.

The submission is written both from the perspective of The Outback Vape Cafe as a business

concerned with the sale and supply of personal vaporisers in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

and as a person who uses the devices, and in doing so has successfully quit smoking cigarettes. The

lack of evidence to support the claims of any potential harms to the community has informed my

criticism of what appears to be an opinion based discussion paper.

In writing, I have tried to address the concerns outlined in the discussion paper as well as supplying

evidence based points which I hope will be considered in any decisions made on the sale and supply

of personal vapourisers (PV's) in the ACT.

I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have or to meet with you should you

r-. .. .---ul se contact me on 02 6242 5023 during business hours.

Christopher Franzi

Business owner, The Outback Vape Cafe

23 December 2014

The Outback Vape Ca e's Response to the Health ACT Discussion

Paper on Options to rotect the Community from Potential Harms

Associated with Pers nal Vapourisers (E-Cigarettes)

This paper sets out the respons from The Outback Vape Cafe to the Health ACT discussion paper,

Options to Protect the Commun y from Potential Harms Associated with Personal Vapourisers (£­

Cigarettes).

As a general point, I agree that e re-normalisation of smoking would indeed undermine the

reduction in people smoking to acco cigarettes in the ACT and this is something I agree should be

avoided. I also agree that any g teway path for young people towards smoking tobacco cigarettes

should be prevented via Govern ent intervention (regulation). It is concerning, however, that PV's

are being viewed by Govern me t agencies as having any similarities to tobacco products and

therefore inherently carry with hem potential harms to the community that are at all comparable

with tobacco cigarettes.

Any change to the regulation o PV's based on non-evidence based perceived dangers could in fact

undermine the reduction in peo le smoking cigarettes in the ACT and I hope to outline this in my

response.

Those businesses like mine whi have undertaken sales of non-nicotine liquids and PV's and have

operated in a self-regulated fra ework should not be impacted by perceived issues that have not

been proven to exist. A ban or gulate by default approach to PV's would see the Government take

nothing short of a 'quit or die' a itude on those adults who choose to puff on a (proven) healthier

alternative to legal to purchase obacco cigarettes.

• November 2013 Gilbert Ross MD, is medical nd executive director of the American Council on Science and Health. In this

special report on The Americ n, he states "simple common sense would dictate that inhaling the fewer, less

harmful ingredients of e-ciga ettes as compared to inhaling the thousands of chemicals in the smoke from

burnt tobacco, many of whic have been shown to be carcinogenic, is highly likely to be healthier."

htt : www.american.com arc ive 2013 november smokin -kills-and-so-mi ht-e-ci arette­

regulation

The sale and supply of nicotine i already regulated and enforceable by Government agencies so it

should not be raised in the disc ssion paper as an issue relating to PV's. No further regulation is

needed in this area. PV's that u e liquid containing zero nicotine are nothing more than a food grade

liquid, made from legal to purch se food grade products, that is then heated up into a vapour

utilising a heating element in th PV itself. PV's do not inherently create vapour unless the liquid is added to them them and vice v rsa.

E-Ci arette Effectiveness In rel tion to the ACT's smoke free future

The ACT Government has enact d policy looking to make the ACT a smoke free environment and the

use of PV's should be considere the best alternative that would assist the community in this aim.

The following studies are provid d as evidence.

• October 2014. A small study has found seco d-generation e-cigs to be immediately and highly effective in reducing cigarette craving and withdrawal sym toms.

http:ljwww.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/11/11220/htm

• (Abstract) October 2014. According to this study by researchers at the Center for Survey Research, University of Massachusetts Boston; intensive users of e-cigarettes were 6 times as likely as non-users/triers to report they quit smoking. Daily use of electronic cigarettes for at least one month was strongly associated with quitting smoking at follow up.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25301815

• August 2014 A recent study discussed in Australian Medicine says electronic cigarette use is associated with smoking reduction and use of electronic cigarettes by non-smokers is not only rare, no migration from vaping to smoking has been documented.

http://www.informit.corn.au/pages/ecigaretteuse.html

July 2014 A briefing on e-cigarettes and related policy issues by Clive Bates, who was previously involved with ASH (Action on Smoking and Health). In the UK. Mr. Bates points out vaping could save up to a billion lives in the 21st Century.

http:ljwww.clivebates.com/?p=2300#more-2300

• July 2014 A Queen Mary University (UK) study has found that despite gaps in knowledge, current evidence concerning e­cigarettes doesn't justify the devices being more strictly regulated than, or even as strictly as, tobacco cigarettes. The study presents evidence from 115 references.

http://www.addictionjournal.org/press-releases/new-scientific-review-says-current-evidence­

suggests-potentia 1-benefits-of-e-cig

E-Cigarettes a Gateway to Smoking Theory

In terms of the concerns surrounding the 'gateway' of PV use in the young as a gateway to smoking

tobacco cigarettes, the following studies are provided as evidence that this is once again a perceived

issue rather than a proven or evidence based issue.

• May 2014 In another report commissioned by Public Health England, the authors state they could not identify any evidence to suggest that non smoking children who tried e-cigarettes were more likely to then try tobacco.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment data/file/311491/Ecigarett

e uptake and marketing.pdf

• April 2014 In a position statement released by the Australian Association of Smoking Cessation Professionals (AASCP), the body provides some support for ecigarettes and states the final decision to use the devices "belongs to the individual smoker, who should weigh up the risk and benefits and make a decision for their circumstances." It

also mentions there is no evidence to support concerns ecigs are a gateway to smoking or normalise smoking.

http://aascp.org.au/index.php/download file/view/583/482/

• March 2014 A study by Professor Stanton Glantz and Dr Lauren Dutra on teenage smoking and ecig use has been thoroughly debunked by Clive Bates, who called the document "false, misleading and damaging". Mr. Bates was previously director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH-UK).

http://www.clivebates.com/?p=2053#more-2053

• October 2013 The study is yet to be published, but according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research , the use of ecigarettes by teens does not lead on to smoking tobacco in the vast majority of cases.

http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/first-study-to-examine-e-cigarette.html

Renormalisation of Smoking Concerns

In terms of the concerns surrounding the renormalisation of smoking and the uptake of use of PV's

by those who do not currently smoke is unfounded. The aim of my business is to help disassociate

people from smoking cigarettes by using devices that do not in any way resemble a cigarette. The

following study provides evidence on this point.

• April 2014

A study by researchers from University College London has found the use of ecigarettes by those who have never smoked is negligible. Evidence also indicates ecigs are not 'renormalizing' smoking - and they may be contributing to a reduction in smoking prevalence.

http://www.smokinginengland.info/downloadfile/?type=latest-stats&src=ll

Public Health and 'Second-hand Vapour'

In terms of the concerns surrounding second hand vapour and the effects on public health I provide

the following evidence based studies and reports on this.

• March 2014 Switching completely from tobacco toe-cigarettes achieves much the same with regard to health as does quitting smoking and all nicotine use completely says the Royal College Of Physicians. The body goes on to say even in the absence of regulation, the risks to ecig users and others is low.

http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/commentary/what-you-need-know-about-electronic-cigarettes

• January 2014 A study that reviewed available data on chemistry of ecig aerosols and eliquids found no evidence to suggest vaping produces inhalable exposures to contaminants that justify concerns relating to the health and safety of workplaces.

http://www.biomedcentral .com/content/pdf/1471-2458-14-18.pdf

• December 2013

A new study (Published in Oxford Journal, December 2013) shows while e-cigarettes are a source of second­hand exposure to nicotine; it's far, far less than that associated with second hand cigarette smoke.

Additionally, e-cigarette second-hand vapor did not contain combustion related toxicants tested for. Lead

author was Maciej Goniewic from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.V.

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.short?rss=l

Conclusion and Option

It is for these reasons that the ACT Government should initiate option 1 which is the 'status quo'

approach and should not try to bundle PV's in with a dangerous combusted plant matter product

which is perfectly legal. As nicotine is already regulated, PV's should not be treated as nicotine

replacement therapy (NRT's) and they do not contain tobacco and therefore should not be treated

as tobacco products.

The substance used is food grade and not mind altering. As the provided studies show there is no

evidence to suggest that PV's create a renormalisation environment nor are they a gateway to

smoking for young kinds.

My business is not a business which is funded by big tobacco and therefore I refute the claim that

PV's are just a way for tobacco companies to pick up on lost profits from cigarette sales.

Decisions for the use of the devices indoors should be at the discretion of the proprietors and should

not be regulated without any evidence to suggest their use is of any concern to general public

health.

• November 2013

Presentation slides from Clive Bates (of the Counterfactual) concerning the dangers of over-regulating ecigarettes. Mr Bates urges positivity about the vast potential about ecigs, to put the (minor) risks in perspective and regulate as though the 1 billion who are predicted to die from tobacco related illnesses in the 21st century matter most. Presented at The E-Cigarette Summit, Royal Society, London in November 2013.

http:Uecigarettereviewed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Clive-Bates-Regulation-When-Less-is­

More-E-Cigarette-Summit.pdf

Regards,

Christopher Franzi

Business Owner

The Outback Vape Cafe