The TGA has published a video on social media that says nicotine e-cigarettes 'may help' in smoking cessation despite the Department of Health saying current evidence does not support the claim and that the products are not safe.
This time tomorrow nicotine e-cigarettes will be available through Australian community pharmacies to people with a prescription.
Pharmacy chains can even advertise their availability as a product prescribed for smoking cessation.
The TGA authorised this advertising and is itself now promoting nicotine e-cigarettes as a tool for smoking cessation.
The regulator has gone as far as publishing a video on YouTube that includes the claim nicotine e-cigarettes "may help" people to quit smoking. The same video says nicotine addiction is harmful. It also says the regulator "has not assessed or registered" any nicotine e-cigarettes products for use in smoking cessation.
The federal Department of Health's own website still says there is "insufficient evidence to promote the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation."
It says, "They are sometimes marketed as a way to quit smoking, but there's not enough evidence to show that they help – or are safe."
Yet the regulator has released a video on social media that says nicotine e-cigarettes 'may help' in smoking cessation, while at the same time the Department of Health says they do not.
BioPharmaDispatch asked the TGA if it stands by the video and claim nicotine e-cigarettes "may help" people to quit smoking.
It provided a lengthy response that is published in full here.
The regulator acknowledges that the evidence on nicotine e-cigarettes is "mixed". Its response includes links to a range of studies, including one it says provides "moderate certainty evidence" on the benefit of nicotine e-cigarettes over nicotine replacement therapy and another where nicotine e-cigarettes "demonstrated a small benefit in smoking cessation."
Has the TGA assessed' nicotine e-cigarettes or not? If these studies provide this evidence, why are nicotine e-cigarettes not approved and why does the Department of Health's website maintain there is "insufficient evidence to promote the use of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation."
Each Australian state and territory maintains a 'quit smoking' program. A review of these programs shows not one lists nicotine vaping products as effective tools for smoking cessation. Some clearly state they do not support smoking cessation while others do not even acknowledge their existence.
New South Wales says, "In clinical trials, the vast majority of people that used either nicotine or non-nicotine e-cigarettes did not stop smoking."
Victoria has a particular focus on the risk to younger people. "There is also evidence to suggest young people who use e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes in later years," it says.
The US has seen the significant diversion of nicotine vaping products to younger people. One company, Juul, whose major shareholder is the world's largest tobacco company, Altira, is facing a large number of lawsuits over its promotion of nicotine vaping products.
Queensland explicitly does not recommend nicotine e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. It says, "Scientists are still learning about e-cigarettes, which means they cannot be considered safe. Why? Even if e-cigarettes don’t contain nicotine or produce tar in the same way as cigarettes, there is concern that using e-cigarettes could increase risk of lung disease, heart disease and cancer."
