Kevin Rudd calls for vaping BAN in Australia due to health fears – as Trump set to halt US sales

Australia’s former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for vaping to be outlawed after US President Donald Trump moved to ban e-cigarettes over health fears.

‘Vaping should be banned now,’ wrote the Labor politician, who was Australia’s 26th prime minister, on both Facebook and Twitter.

‘Anything promoted by Big Tobacco is bound to be: a) profitable for them, and b) lethal for people.’

 

The US is set to ban flavoured vaping over concerns the flavours and marketing are luring school students into addiction and causing illness and lung damage

Australia's former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for vaping to be outlawed after US President Donald Trump moved to ban e-cigarettes over health fears

Australia’s former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for vaping to be outlawed after US President Donald Trump moved to ban e-cigarettes over health fears

Kevin Rudd posted the story of 18-year-old US former athlete Adam Hergenreder who ruined his lungs during more than a year and a half of vaping flavoured e-cigarettes

Kevin Rudd posted the story of 18-year-old US former athlete Adam Hergenreder who ruined his lungs during more than a year and a half of vaping flavoured e-cigarettes

Mr Rudd shared the story of US teen Adam Hergenreder, a former athlete from Illinois, who was hospitalised after using e-cigarettes for more than a year and a half, leaving him with lungs similar to those of a 70-year-old man.

‘I first started vaping just to fit in, because everyone else was doing it,’ Mr Hergenreder told CNN, adding that the had flavors appealed to him, especially mango. 

The 18-year-old man said he is not sure whether his health will ever completely recover.

The call to ban vaping products comes after US President Donald Trump said his administration would ban the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, citing health concerns for young people.

The US Food and Drug Administration is set to outline a plan in the coming weeks to remove flavoured e-cigarettes and nicotine pods from the market, excluding tobacco flavors.

Tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes would remain available for adults who may be using e-cigarettes to stop using combustible tobacco, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said in a video statement on Wednesday.

The US state of Michigan became the first to ban the sale of the flavoured e-cigarettes last week, after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an outbreak of more than 450 cases of vaping-related respiratory illnesses with possible links to six deaths. 

Investigators haven’t yet identified the cause of the illnesses, but many of them have been reported in young people.

Mr Azar said on Wednesday that there had been a surge in US school children using the flavoured products.

‘Children being drawn in by flavoured e-cigarette products including mint, menthol, bubble gum, mango, alcohol flavoured, et-cetera,’  he said in a video statement.

‘There’s one product of the market for instance where one of their pods can deliver in the course of its life, which can be used in a day, the nicotine equivalent of an entire pack of cigarettes. So  – quite dangerous, quite addictive.’ 

The call to ban vaping products comes after US President Donald Trump said his administration would ban the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, citing health concerns for young people

The call to ban vaping products comes after US President Donald Trump said his administration would ban the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, citing health concerns for young people

Australian researchers have recently found that popular heated tobacco devices may cause the same damage to lung cells as traditional cigarettes and that vaping is also toxic to the cells which protect the lungs. 

Both electronic devices, used by thousands of people to quit smoking, are now thought to cause the airway damage seen in people with the lung diseases emphysema, bronchitis and cancer. 

Dr Pawan Sharma led the study from the University of Technology Sydney, looking at cigarettes, e-cigarettes and the IQOS, which is made by tobacco giant Philip Morris International.

‘Our results suggest that all three are toxic to the cells of our lungs and that these new heated tobacco devices are as harmful as smoking traditional cigarettes,’ Dr Sharma said. 

‘Damage to these two types of lung cells can destroy lung tissue leading to fatal diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and pneumonia, and can increase the risk of developing asthma, including in unborn children.

‘So we should not assume that these devices are a safer option.’

Not all people are keen to see a ban.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk