Unmasking The Appeal: TSANZ Releases New Vaping Cessation Guidance For Health Professionals On World No Tobacco Day

To mark World No Tobacco Day 2025, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) is proud to launch its new Guidance for the Management of Electronic Cigarette Use. Published in Respirology, the guidance is designed to equip healthcare professionals (HCPs) with strategies to prevent vaping initiation and support individuals who are trying to quit.

“Vaping-associated nicotine addiction is a problem that has been created by the calculated design of the product, the strategic use of social media platforms and its ready accessibility in recent years” says Professor Mathew Peters, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Macquarie University.

The TSANZ Guidance is a practical, evidence-informed resource designed around common clinical scenarios. Freely accessible, the guidance supports HCPs to provide informed, consistent care when addressing vaping and nicotine dependence among adolescents and adults.

The TSANZ warns that modern nicotine addiction is no longer driven solely by traditional tobacco products. E-cigarettes or vapes now play an equally powerful role, deliberately designed to appeal to young people through enticing flavours, sleek packaging, and high nicotine content.

“Politicians, the public and people who smoke or vape need to be aware that nicotine addiction is not about ‘freedom of choice’ despite what the tobacco and vape industries would have us believe” said the TSANZ Tobacco and Other Substances Special Interest Group Convenor and Paediatric Respiratory Physician, Dr Moya Vandeleur. “Nicotine addiction is simply about the industry getting as many people hooked onto their products as possible, to turn as much profit as possible, regardless of the severe health outcomes associated with use,” reminds Dr Vandeleur.

We commend the Government on their implementation of regulations to reduce the availability of vapes and to restrict flavourings, and nicotine content in these products However, the industry does not rest and neither should we. TSANZ calls on the re-elected Albanese Labor Government to extend the actions it has already taken to control smoked tobacco given a majority of those who smoke express a desire to quit. Further lowering permissible nicotine concentrations and banning flavour manipulations will have a rapid, substantial effect on smoking uptake, will help people who smoke in their quit attempts and will support people who have already quit smoking from relapsing.

"As a health membership society leader, I see the societal cost of addiction firsthand, and it’s truly concerning how prevalent vaping has become, especially among young people. This new guidance is a vital step in protecting public health and productivity," says Vincent So, CEO.

“There has never been a better moment. Australia and New Zealand must pursue an end game for tobacco and other nicotine product use,” says TSANZ President, Professor Natasha Smallwood.

"The launch of this new guidance represents a significant milestone in TSANZ’s ongoing efforts to combat the growing public health challenge of e-cigarette use."

© Scoop Media