An anti-vaping campaign ran testing that found more than 200 chemicals in vapes, including bug spray, weed killer and formaldehyde — which is used in glue, and also to preserve literal corpses. Suddenly quitting doesn’t sound so bad.
The Western Australian arm of the Cancel Council has launched a social media campaign on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitch to warn young people of the dangers of vaping — specifically, of the toxins found inside vapes.
The Clear the Air campaign comes after a jump in stats regarding the use of vapes in young people in WA. According to stats provided by the Cancer Council to ABC News, only two percent of teens were vaping in 2020. By last year, that number was 12 per cent.
In 18 to 24 year olds, the number jumped from six to a whopping 21 per cent.
“It’s taken a huge amount of effort from multiple approaches in public health, to try and reduce tobacco smoking,” said Cancer Council WA chief executive Ashley Reid, per ABC News.
“And now we’re finding that these products [vapes], which are addictive, are a direct gateway to increasing tobacco use,” he said.
Testing of nicotine vapes found users could be exposed to up to 240 chemicals in them, including insect and weed killers, and formaldehyde, which is used in industrial glues and resin dyes, disinfectants and for the embalming of corpses in funeral homes.
Reid said there isn’t a lot of information on the long term effects of using vapes (though here’s what a doctor told us), but noted that the majority of nicotine vapes also have much more nicotine in them than cigarettes do.
“They have the equivalent nicotine of three, four and five packets of cigarettes,” he said.
Reid said the law’s glacial pace when it comes to nicotine vapes means they’re pretty accessible, despite being illegal without a prescription.
However, he said he wasn’t for regulating them and introducing plain packaging — which some might argue would result in less under-the-table sales of vapes, especially to minors.
“There are hundreds, literally hundreds of stores in Western Australia selling a product that is not legal currently,” he said.
“But, we need to improve enforcement, we need to stop supply at the border, and we need to educate … all people about the dangers of vaping.
“We do not suggest that we talk about labelling and regulation around vaping because we shouldn’t be importing them at all,” he said.
“If we start talking about labelling [that] effectively normalises this product, which we do not want to see.”
The Federal Government announced a huge crackdown on vapes earlier this year, which would see the importation of non-prescription vapes banned, among a bunch of other changes.
If you reckon ingesting bug spray is *not* a vibe but the idea of dealing with withdrawals makes you want to [redact] yourself, you can read about our guide to make it easier to quit vaping here.
Image: iStock
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