Stories

The study, published today in Addiction Journal, found that e-cigarettes were more commonly used in the group studied than nicotine patches (47% compared with 21%). Women who smoked and (...)

A study by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that cigarette smoking is associated with brain shrinkage, heightening the risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Published in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, this research emphasizes that the damage escalates with prolonged and increased smoking.

Considering the health harms of tobacco smoking, the primary aim of individual and population-level interventions should always be cigarette cessation. However, many smokers struggle to quit, and therefore replacing cigarettes with less harmful electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes can be helpful as a harm reduction strategy. While some people (...)

Young Australians are increasingly being flooded with public health warnings about the dangers of vaping. But data shows the uptake among teenagers continues to rapidly rise — an issue the government blames on a thriving black market. And as Bethanie Alderson reports, it's a market some fear will now only expand following a nationwide crackdown.

Bengt Wiberg is a man on a mission and that task is to change opinions about tobacco-free nicotine pouches. Through the ‘EU for snus’ initiative, Wiberg is attempting to challenge the European Union’s “unscientific” approach to snus that “favours politics over science”. It is a fight being replicated in Canada by retired anaesthesiologist John Oyston.

The Australian Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, made a strong push to address the growing problem of youth vaping in his speech at the National Press Club in May 2023. While new approaches to controlling youth vaping are urgently needed, it is critical that policy reforms to end the tobacco cigarette epidemic are also pursued with equal vigour — otherwise we risk shifting people currently using vapes to tobacco smoking.

Turning to the results, based on seven studies with two and a half thousand participants, we found high-certainty evidence that people are more likely to stop smoking for at least six months if they use nicotine e-cigarettes rather than (…)

Sky News contributor Joe Hildebrand has criticised the “most insane plan” requiring Australians to seek out prescriptions for nicotine vapes because it will “cripple” a stretched GP system and will make it easier for people to buy cigarettes.

The government looks set to launch an all-out attack on vaping in an effort to reduce teen vaping as it gears up for a general election later this year. Conservative Party right-wingers are set to oppose measures such as the generational ban on cigarette sales, but a new tax on vape products look troublingly real. In addition, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs plans to crack down on the collection and treatment of disposables.

The Irish Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, has decided to postpone the implementation of an imminent vape tax due to concerns that it might discourage smokers from using e-cigarettes as a tool to quit smoking. Officials from the Department of Finance and the Department of Health expressed the need to strike a balance, discouraging young people from vaping while supporting existing smokers using vapes to transition away from traditional cigarettes.