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- Public opinion
- Advocacy
- Electronic nicotine delivery devices
- Non-cigarette tobacco products
- Harm Reduction
Background
E-cigarette use (vaping) has increased in popularity among young people with child-friendly flavours and products alongside social media promotions targeting adolescents.1 Often touted as a ‘safer alternative’ to tobacco smoking, e-cigarettes have multiple adverse health effects2 3 and can be a precursor to cigarette smoking, particularly in young people.4–6
Australia has regulations restricting the supply of e-cigarettes.7 In 2021, despite lobbying from industry, it became illegal to supply or purchase nicotine containing e-cigarettes without a prescription and child-proof closures became mandatory.8 There are, however, currently no national laws governing the promotion of non-nicotine e-cigarette products to children.7 The marketing of non-nicotine e-cigarettes continues to target children with respect to product appeal, price and product placement, for example, in video games and streaming service content. Laws banning the sale and supply of non-nicotine e-cigarettes to children are rarely enforced, and in 2017, 37% of 12–15 years old users and 27% of 16 and 17 years old users reported vaping at least once during the past month.9
In response to the increasing uptake of vaping among adolescents in Australia, we surveyed Australian parents’ attitudes towards restrictions on e-cigarettes.
Methods
Participants were selected in two stages. First, over 100 000 parents of children aged 0–17 years were recruited by a private online survey vendor (The Online Research Unit) using online and offline methods to create a panel of parents with demographic characteristics representative of the Australian parent population by state of residency, gender and age. Second, a sample, stratified by jurisdiction (state), gender and age, was randomly selected and invited to complete an online survey in November 2019 as part of the Royal Children’s Hospital National Child Health Poll.
Results
Of the 3114 randomly selected eligible parents, 2024 respondents (65%) completed the survey. The majority of Australian parents supported restrictions controlling the marketing (86%), public use (79%), and packaging (87%) of e-cigarettes (table 1). Support was largely consistent across demographic groups, and 38% of parents who reported current or previous use supported a ban on the sale and supply of e-cigarettes, compared with 51% of parents who reported never having used.
Parents support* for restrictions controlling e-cigarette use in Australia
Discussion
Our study demonstrates majority support for regulations controlling e-cigarettes in Australia. Parents generally favoured wide-ranging restrictions that could reduce adolescent e-cigarette use. Almost all parents support a ban on marketing and advertising of e-cigarettes to teenagers thus recognising the reach and influence of product appeal, placement and price on this age group. Australian governments have an opportunity to help prevent more widespread e-cigarette use and protect the health of adolescents by limiting their exposure to e-cigarette promotions.
Australia has led the way internationally with tobacco control for traditional cigarettes, resulting in some of the lowest rates of smoking among comparable countries.9 10 There remains, however, considerable scope to introduce and enforce further restrictions by including e-cigarettes in smoke free laws, as widely supported by parents.
Australian policy makers have an opportunity to build on recent national legislative change by introducing restrictions on promotions targeting young people and laws on use in public places. Governments should feel empowered by strong public opinion favouring e-cigarette regulations on marketing and other restrictions. Inaction risks allowing these devices to permeate the market, exposing a new generation to preventable harms.
Ethics statements
Patient consent for publication
Ethics approval
This study involves human participants and was approved by RCH Human Research Ethics Committee ID: 35254. Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the contribution of Sarah White, Director Quit Victoria, who reviewed the survey questions. We also gratefully acknowledge all the parents who participated in the RCH National Child Health Poll.
Footnotes
Twitter @doctor_vik
Contributors All authors of this research letter directly participated in the planning, execution or analysis phases of the study, and have read and approved this, the final version of the research letter.
Funding This work was supported by The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.