Vaping poses a serious risk to the health of the community, according to a new priority issues paper released by Gippsland Primary Health Network (Gippsland PHN).
The paper highlights the side-effects of vaping which include seizures and poisoning in some users, and an impact on heart and lungs from chemicals, some of which can even cause cancer.
Vaping exposes users to heavy metals and fine particulate matter (also found in air pollution from traffic and bushfires) while short term impacts may include coughing, breathing problems, vomiting, swelling and throat irritation.
Gippsland PHN Chief Executive Officer, Amanda Proposch, said the new priority issues paper highlighted the dangers of vaping, revealing concerning statistics that showed an increase in vaping in 2022 with 22 per cent of Victorian adults declaring they had vaped. This is up from 17 per cent in 2018-2019.
Of these, 6.1 percent are current users, up from 3 per cent in 2018-2019 and 3.5 per cent are regular users, up from 1.6 per cent.
Read the media release below.
