Dr Colin Mendelsohn presented at the NDARC Webinar Series on Thursday 17 February 2022.

This presentation reviewed the risks to health from vaping nicotine compared to smoking tobacco.

Vaping nicotine is a safer alternative for adult smokers who are unable to quit. Smokers who switch to vaping are exposed to far fewer toxins in much lower doses and have significant health improvements. The long-term effects of vaping are unknown, but vaping has been estimated to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking.

About the speaker

Colin Mendelsohn was a Sydney GP for 27 years with a special interest in smoking cessation and now works exclusively in tobacco treatment, helping smokers to quit.

He is a member of the expert advisory group that develops the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners national smoking cessation guidelines. He is the Founding Chairman of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, a health promotion charity established to raise awareness of tobacco harm reduction options.

Colin was a Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales. For many years he was actively involved with Professor Robyn Richmond in researching, developing and teaching Smokescreen for the 1990s, a program developed at the University of New South Wales for use by general practitioners to help smokers quit.

He is a past Vice President of the Australian Association of Smoking Cessation Professionals, Australia’s peak body for experts in the field of smoking cessation.

He is actively engaged in research, writing and teaching about smoking cessation, tobacco harm reduction and tobacco control.

Colin is currently an investigator on an NHMRC-funded clinical trial on vaping at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

He is also the author of a recently published book, Stop Smoking Start Vaping. The Healthy Truth about Vaping.

Colin has no financial or commercial relationship with any electronic cigarette or tobacco company.