Vaping reforms: Australian National University Professor Emily Banks makes ... trends now
An anti-vaping professor has been grilled during a senate inquiry to provide examples of e-cigarette deaths before she eventually admitted the only known deaths is when vape batteries exploded.
Professor Emily Banks was questioned at the senate inquiry for the Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Bill on Wednesday.
The head of the Centre for Public Health Data and Policy at Australian National University in Canberra is a leading advocate for stricter regulations on vapes due to health concerns regarding the popular devices.
Federal Nationals Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan told the inquiry that he is still not sure 'after all these years' if anyone had died using a vape in places like the United Kingdom or New Zealand.
'Or even just a severe medical episode. Because I'm trying to reach what the threshold is here before we ban something,' he said.
Professor Emily Banks (pictured at Wednesday's senate inquiry) was asked to provide an example of deaths resulting from vape use, which she couldn't
Senator Matt Canavan (pictured via link at the senate inquiry into vapes) had to keep asking the professor to answer his question
'Is there that evidence?'
Professor Banks talked about the 34 countries that had banned vapes before saying the issue is bigger than consenting adults buying the product, as children have been targeted by companies to become addicted.
Mr Canavan conceded that while it was an important point, he wanted an answer to his question which Professor Banks finally answered.
'So we're not just talking about deaths, there are examples of deaths in those countries from exploding batteries, for example,' she said.
Although Professor Banks couldn't point to anyone dying because of inhaling e-cigarettes, she listed other heath implications.
'There are also examples of severe lung injuries. I was just in an international forum recently where a doctor was talking about having a teenager on a ventilator, with tubes in their chest, due to lung trauma related to vaping,' she said.
'They were
