Vaping reforms: Australian National University Professor Emily Banks makes shock admission at parliamentary inquiry

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

READ MORE: Anthony Albanese calls young Aussies 'revolting' for this common habit

Anthony Albanese has branded vaping as a 'revolting habit' (stock image)

'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 talking about it being very difficult to remove the tubes because the lung damage is so severe, also noting that they had never had a teenager in their care in that situation because of smoking. 

'So there are examples of severe outcomes. 

The main thing is we don't have to talk about severe outcomes; you can just talk about the fact that there are large proportions of people getting addicted. 

It doesn't have to be severe or a death.'

The Professor also said it is too early to know the long-term effects of rape and we don't know the impact they have on the heart and cancer cells (pictured stock image of a vape being smoked)

Professor Banks told the inquiry that 30 per cent of Aussie e-cigarette users have never smoked, with just under a third saying they would find it difficult to quit.

However, Senator Canavan still asked for evidence of severe impact and if they were the result of illegal or regulated vapes, saying he had very 'limited time' for her answer.

He then went back to the point of companies targeting children and directed his questions to Dr Becky Freeman, which took away Ms Banks opportunity to reply.

Western Australia Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John asked Professor Banks if she would agree that vaping is '95 per cent safer than tobacco smoking'.

'There's really no evidence to support the '95 per cent less harmful' factoid, which I think is what you could call it,' she replied.

'In saying it's 95 per cent less harmful, what outcome are you talking about? If you're talking about childhood addiction, you might actually say that e-cigarettes can be a greater risk than smoking. 

Professor Banks believes vapes (pictured) are worse than cigarettes for childhood addiction, especially due to the flavours available

'We're seeing 23 per cent of school students who start using vapes start by the age of 12 and another 23 per cent start by the age of 13. These are not harsh on your throat, they've got flavours, they're very easy to use.

'You could also say that in terms of poisoning children they are higher risk. Having one blanket statement is problematic.'

She also conceded that the impact of vapes are largely unknown due to them being a recent product.

'We don't know a lot of the effects—we don't know what it does to cancer and we don't know what it does to cardiovascular disease—it's very difficult to actually come to an appreciation of the comparison,' Professor Banks said. 

Around 24,000 Australians lose their lives each year to cigarettes, according to the Cancer Council, a fact that has divided health advocates and politicians in their support of vapes, with some believing they are safer.