May 15, 2024 • 16 mins
There's a brand new nicotine product out, so invisible you may not even be aware your child has it! Plus, the dangers of vaping, a nation-leading move by SA to protect our children from social media, and 118 reasons to be child-free.
In this episode:
- Bluey 'The Sign' - a missed opportunity?
- Advocate pushes for vaping areas in schools as NSW holds inquiry into vape laws | news.com.au
- Harm-reduction policy regarding vaping
- #498 Children and Vaping, with Lisa Damour - Happy Families
- Vaping is a 'young person' phenomenon in Australia | Pursuit, Uni of Melb
- A new nicotine product that tastes and smells great - known as zyns, snus or little lip pillows
- ‘Invisible threat’: Nicotine pouches taking over schools | news.com.au
- Should social media be banned for children?
- How should you approach your children's and teenagers' social media use? | abc.net.au
- Parents in defensive mode
- Australian model Ellie Gonsalves shared 118 reasons to be childfree | ABC
Related links:
- Pots, Pills, & Parenting: A Masterclass with Paul Dillon and Dr Justin Coulson - Happy Families
- 4 P’s to Prevent Peer Pressure in your Teens - Happy Families
Leave a voice memo here or email your questions/comments to podcasts@happyfamilies.com.au
Find out more about joining THE QUEST at our website
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the Happy Families podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just answers.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Now, So we've begun this podcast. By the way, welcome
to this Week in Parenting. This Week in Parenting is
the podcast where we have a look at the stuff
that's in the news that affects parents and talk about
what's going on for mums and dads and cares that
are just wanting to make their family happy. Kylie's got
(00:33):
her back to me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, you put me in the naughty corner.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It feels like we don't do that. We don't do
that in this house. But you've got you back to me.
When we sit facing each other, it basically looks like
it doesn't look like it sounds like we're broadcasting from
a toilet.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We're definitely not.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, we're definitely not in a toilet. I promise you that.
But anyway, welcome to this Week in Parenting. Kylie. We
have a bunch of stories. You are as always conducting
the music here. What are we talking about first and
where are we going with it? Well?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think we need to revisit the blue episode the Sign.
We talked about it a couple of weeks back.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
If you're looking at. On the podcast, I think I
said something like.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I really liked it, Ji, can you replay that.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Such sublime content for our kids to watch. There's a
reason that it's the number one TV show on the planet. Okay,
so I definitely definitely said that I liked it on
the podcast. I'm having second thoughts. I mean, I love Bluie.
It's not that I don't like Blue. I just think
that I think that they got it wrong, Kylie. I
think that the sign was wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Look at two things here. I'm actually really surprised that
you're still thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Blue gets in your head.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
But number two, when we recorded it, you acknowledged that
you were actually deeply saddened by the fact that we've
done so many moves, and you wonder how children's lives
would be different, specifically had they have had more stability,
which was actually quite a shock to me. So where
are you standing now?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Well, the reason that I am not happy with Blue
is because I think that they missed an opportunity to
teach I guess they taught parents that if you can
maintain stability, you don't have to keep on chasing the
dollar and keep on chasing the corporate climb. That's one
listen there, but I don't know if too many parents
would have picked that up. I just don't know if
that's what most parents are going to do when cost
of living bites and there's opportunities for improvement and so on,
(02:32):
and families do move often, they don't want to. Often
there's no choice. It just has to be done. And
I reckon they should have just done it different. I
reckon that the sign should have finished with the moving
and having to readjust having to try to figure out
what now.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Even in spite of the fact that you wish your
kids had more stability.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, simply because people don't. And apart from that,
they would have gotten another full season of Bluey with
everything that happened moving forward interesting. So that's not really
a this Week in pairenting, but more of just a
felt like there was a loose end hanging over my head.
I still love Bluie, I'm not cranky about it, but
there was opportunities there. I reckon the conversations could have
been phenomenal. Let's get into the real news now. Storry
(03:11):
number two. So there's a parliamentary inquiry probing New South
Wales vaping regulation and compliance happening right now, and an
academic in New South Wales, so a fellow by the
name of Colin Mendelssohn, who is the founding chairman of
the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, has said that basically
the government's efforts to regulate the vaping industry completely dismal failure.
(03:32):
Vaping laws have existed, saying that it's been illegal to
import or sell nicotine vapes without a prescription in Australia
since mid twoenty twenty one. What we also know though,
is that vapes that do not contain nicotine are currently
legal in New South Wales, but a lot of ease
cigarettes with nicotine are being sold without a label that's
(03:56):
advertising that products have nicotine. Basically, people are flatting the
rules all over the place and because of this inquiry,
doctor Mendelssohn is basically saying what we want to do
is we know that some kids are addicted and they're
going to continue to vape no matter what, and therefore
his focus is on minimizing harm for the child and
(04:16):
harm to the classroom. He also said this was interesting.
He said vaping was one of the least harmful risk
behavior's children indulge in. And he said he would much
rather his children or grandchildren vape than smoke or drink
drive regardless, really really really bad for you, really unhealthy.
And this is the conversation that's happening right now.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I guess the thing that I find most intriguing
about this is just the acknowledgment we know how harmful
cigarettes are. Yeah, nicotine is a drug that our kids
have access to every day, Like they can walk into
any store as long as they've got an adult purchasing
for them, they can get access to it whenever they want.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Smoking is on the way down, by the way, Smoking
has been on the way down for quite.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
A while, but vaping has gone through the room.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And so it's really intriguing to me that we're having
a conversation about how we teach our kids to have
safe access to it when we recognize and know just
how harmful it is.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, the impact of vaping on physical health, but also
mental health. There's concerned that if someone's anxious or depressed
or using vapes for other reasons and it could exacerbate
those issues. I'm really sympathetic to an understanding of the
compassionate grounds for a harm reduction policy. But fundamentally these
(05:34):
things are dangerous. I read something that there's something like
two hundred chemicals contained in vapes, and many of those
chemicals cause cancer. It's known that they're carcinogens. I just
think it's nuts that people are getting away with this
and that the government doesn't do muto crack down. I
mean it's almost like they've shrugged their shoulder and said, oh,
too bad, so sad. We're having this inquiry, We're going
(05:55):
to try to tighten things up, but ultimately people are
still going to do it. I guess that's what government
it's therefore, so that they can try to make something happen.
That's an improvement. Definitely, definitely don't let your kids vape.
Encourage them to stay away from it. If you want
more about that, have listened to my conversation with doctor
Lisa de Moore on Instagram. We will link to that
one in the show notes. Story number three has regulation
(06:19):
around vaping titans right the way across the country.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
There are concerns the crackdown might cause kids and teens
to switch to other products. Yeah, I mean nicotine pouches
have now grown in popularity after viral videos advertise them
as a means of quitting e cigarettes. Well, this is
actually a little bit of an extension from the vaping conversation.
Kids are now having access to nicotine pouches.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, so there's a brand new nicotine product out. It's
becoming increasingly popular with young people. And here's the scary thing.
A lot of parents won't even know that their kids
are using it because they're essentially invisible nicotine pouches. They're
called zins or snuffs or little lip pillows. It sounds
so nice, So it sounds so friendly, So gentle a
little lippillow. They've become fashionable, all thanks to what do
you know, social media? Social media is the harder kind
(07:03):
of everything that's going wrong with the world. I think
they look like these tiny teapags. They're filled with nicotine
flavors include mint, bubblegum, mango. It sounds so good, doesn't it.
And you just place this tiny little nicotine pouch between
your lip and your gum and the nicotine is absorbed
directly into the bloodstream. Here's what some young people said
on a Current Affair about these nicotine pouches. I was
(07:24):
in high school.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A lot of people are doing them, and that's where
I initially tried them.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Eighteen year old Matilda and twenty year old Jacob have
both tried pouches.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You pull it out and it's like, just like gum.
People ain't really like blank an eye at.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It rather than seeing pops of clouds coming out.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
At one point I put eight in just for the
giggles and it killed one mouth.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So the whole goal is that these pouches are very,
very discreet, they smell good, and unfortunately they get you
addicted to nicotine.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well it's like a breath freshener with a kick, right.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh wow, that sounds like a marketing line. Wow, you
didn't mean that, but that was good. Yeah, And people
keep on mentioning kids in focus groups, keep on mentioning
these pouches. They're getting them from tobacconists, they're buying them online.
They're this trending new thing.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They're not but did you say they're illegal.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They are not legal products in Australia, and I guess
something aligned with that chewing tobacco that's been banned in
Australia since nineteen ninety one. This is kind of like
a less obvious version of that, and they're not chewing it.
They're just sort of sticking it in between their gums
and their lips. It's kind of crazy. Tobacconists reckon that
nicotine pouch sales are absolutely booming, and no surprise, two
(08:41):
of the largest tobacco companies in the world, Philip Morrison
British American Tobacco have created their own brands. Reading from
news dot com dot U In twenty twenty two, the TGA,
the Therapeutic Goods Administration, sees around about one hundred and
ten thousand of those pouches last year three point five million,
and so far this year, the Federal Health Department reckons
(09:03):
about five point one million units were under assessment for seizure.
These nicotine pouches are booming.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So the thing that I find really curious about all
of this is just the acknowledgment that often we have
conversations about the fact that the government needs to do
more to safeguard our kids, or you know, to change
laws or whatever. But you're literally telling me that sales
are going through the roof for these pouches, and yet
they're illegal. We have these we have these laws, but
(09:35):
there's no enforcement.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, I'm the legislator, just it's.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Curious to me. If you're going to create a law,
then there needs to be a way to safeguard the
citizens of any society, but also to enforce the law,
or else the law becomes a joke.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, bigger fines, closing shops, that sort of stuff. He's
an interesting thing that I discovered. A medium strength nicotine
pouch contains about ten milligrams of nicotine. That's a medium
strength about ten milligrams. Average cigarette contains about twelve miligrams
of nicotine.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
But I'm going to assume, though, if these pouches are
directly absorbed into the bloodstream, they're going to be way
more effective.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah. So with a Litz cigarette, because it burns so much,
you only absorb about one point five of that twelve milligrams,
whereas if you've got a ten miligram nicotine pouch, you're
getting every single bit of that is all going in.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
There, so almost ten times.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, it's a really big problem. I Mean,
I just can't believe the ethics of these companies that
create them. Philip Morris, which makes Zinns facing a lawsuit
in America at the moment because of the claims that
it's addictive and harmful to young people, and yet they
keep on making it. Why Because the dollar matters more
than anything else. Story number four.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The South Australian government are working towards banning social media
for under fourteens.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
South Australian Premier Peter Malanaskis says a ban would help
young people improve their mental health. The excessive use of
social media with an ally itself was actually doing harm
to our young people's mental health. And then we're seeing
a dramatic spike in childhood depression, childhood anxiety, and it's
most extreme and for soon evidence of youth suicide. And
(11:19):
I think we're sort of at the point now that
governments have to act.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
This is a really really vexing, really challenging, tricky issue.
Oh gosh, I don't know what the right thing to
do here. People get around bands, banning and regulation and
restriction like this doesn't usually go particularly well. Banning might
seem like the easier answer, it rarely is. However, when
(11:43):
you look at the way school students, too many of
them are using social media the way they're getting likes
and shares and popularity by sharing violent acts that they
commit towards one another, or anti social acts or theft
or I mean, the list is so long that the bullying,
just the awful stuff. There so many things that go
wrong here. I just I think that they need to
(12:04):
be applauded for at least looking into it. They're calling
it ambitious. That's the word that they're using. And under
the proposal, they're saying children aged fourteen and fifteen would
require parental consent to access a social media account. If
you're under fourteen in South Australia, you just wouldn't be
allowed to use social media. Now again, I have no
idea how they'll do that. They've got some very very
(12:24):
credible and thoughtful people looking into what that might look like.
Obviously everyone around the place has got a big opinion
about it. Good on for having a look at it.
If it could be done in a productive and effective way,
I'm off for it. I am actually off for it.
I just think social media, the phone based childhood and
all the awfulness that goes along with it. The more
(12:46):
we can keep our kids away from it, and the
longer we can keep our kids away from it. The
better start, slow, delay access. I mean, this is the
right idea. I don't know whether it can be executed.
I don't know if there's got to be a better
way of doing it, but I've just love that we're
talking about it, and that would not only be enough,
but one more, just one more today because we love
this Week in Parenting.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Australian model Ali Gonzavis said parents go into defense mode
over her viral list containing one hundred and eighteen reasons
not to have kids.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, so this thirty three year old who's been with
her husband for like fifteen years or something, which is
a really I mean, that's great stuff, but she published
this list on social media when absolutely viral. One hundred
and eighteen reasons why I'm never having kids, she said.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
In response to people's queries, she said, this is a
very honest, personal list as to why I will remain
child free. She said, it's my own personal thoughts based
on a lot of my own experiences or things very
honest people have shared with me personally or online. And
then she shares a whole heap of.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Things kids can be rude.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
She said, you have to take in kids to sports
on the weekends. You have to go to your kids
parent teach your interviews. You have to pay school fees
and excess of ten thousand dollars per year. If you
want your kid to go to a good school, then
you've got the C section scars. Your vagina will be
different post natural birth. The epidural needle is massive. A
whole room of people see your vagina and your insights.
(14:15):
You more than likely will pull yourself during birth. You
could get postpartum depression. The food you cook your kids
will usually not be eaten because kids are picky eating.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That's so pressing. So if you have.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Kids and regret it, you're stuck with them forever.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
My favorite one is rule number nineteen or reason number nineteen.
They can pooll inside you. I presume she's speaking about
when the baby is inside you, that it has to
have some sort of waste elimination. I wonder if she
knows that it's all biologically okay, like that's look.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I read the list and obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Body swelling, face swelling. I mean, all of the.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Things are legit, right, they all happen. But the reality
is everybody has their own opportunity to make their own
minds up whether or not they want children or not.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, she's not trying to convince other people that she's right.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No, But what she is saying is that people who
are parents specifically get really upset with her decision not
to and they're trying to convince her that she's making
I don't you know, White people get so hot onto
the color about this, and that's my thing. I just
think each to their own, and based on her list,
she doesn't.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
She probably she's a lot of mum, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Really grateful that she has the foresight to recognize that
she's not a mom.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Best line of the article Gonzalves, who has been with
her husband Ross for fifteen years, so the two of
them have worked really, really hard for peace. Quote now,
we just don't care to disrupt that piece, she said,
Good move, because if you have kids, you're going to
disrupt that piece. As parents of six kids, what is peace?
(15:47):
What is peace? We hope you've enjoyed this week in parenting.
Thanks so much for listening to the Happy Families podcast.
It's produced by Justin Rowland from Bridge Media. Craig Bruce
is our executive producer. For more information about how you
can make your family happy. Yeah, we'd love for you
to visit us at happy families dot com dot au
Speaker 2 (16:08):
H
It's the Happy Families podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just answers.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Now, So we've begun this podcast. By the way, welcome
to this Week in Parenting. This Week in Parenting is
the podcast where we have a look at the stuff
that's in the news that affects parents and talk about
what's going on for mums and dads and cares that
are just wanting to make their family happy. Kylie's got
(00:33):
her back to me.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah, you put me in the naughty corner.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
It feels like we don't do that. We don't do
that in this house. But you've got you back to me.
When we sit facing each other, it basically looks like
it doesn't look like it sounds like we're broadcasting from
a toilet.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
We're definitely not.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, we're definitely not in a toilet. I promise you that.
But anyway, welcome to this Week in Parenting. Kylie. We
have a bunch of stories. You are as always conducting
the music here. What are we talking about first and
where are we going with it? Well?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I think we need to revisit the blue episode the Sign.
We talked about it a couple of weeks back.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
If you're looking at. On the podcast, I think I
said something like.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I really liked it, Ji, can you replay that.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Such sublime content for our kids to watch. There's a
reason that it's the number one TV show on the planet. Okay,
so I definitely definitely said that I liked it on
the podcast. I'm having second thoughts. I mean, I love Bluie.
It's not that I don't like Blue. I just think
that I think that they got it wrong, Kylie. I
think that the sign was wrong.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Look at two things here. I'm actually really surprised that
you're still thinking about it.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Blue gets in your head.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
But number two, when we recorded it, you acknowledged that
you were actually deeply saddened by the fact that we've
done so many moves, and you wonder how children's lives
would be different, specifically had they have had more stability,
which was actually quite a shock to me. So where
are you standing now?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Well, the reason that I am not happy with Blue
is because I think that they missed an opportunity to
teach I guess they taught parents that if you can
maintain stability, you don't have to keep on chasing the
dollar and keep on chasing the corporate climb. That's one
listen there, but I don't know if too many parents
would have picked that up. I just don't know if
that's what most parents are going to do when cost
of living bites and there's opportunities for improvement and so on,
(02:32):
and families do move often, they don't want to. Often
there's no choice. It just has to be done. And
I reckon they should have just done it different. I
reckon that the sign should have finished with the moving
and having to readjust having to try to figure out
what now.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Even in spite of the fact that you wish your
kids had more stability.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, simply because people don't. And apart from that,
they would have gotten another full season of Bluey with
everything that happened moving forward interesting. So that's not really
a this Week in pairenting, but more of just a
felt like there was a loose end hanging over my head.
I still love Bluie, I'm not cranky about it, but
there was opportunities there. I reckon the conversations could have
been phenomenal. Let's get into the real news now. Storry
(03:11):
number two. So there's a parliamentary inquiry probing New South
Wales vaping regulation and compliance happening right now, and an
academic in New South Wales, so a fellow by the
name of Colin Mendelssohn, who is the founding chairman of
the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, has said that basically
the government's efforts to regulate the vaping industry completely dismal failure.
(03:32):
Vaping laws have existed, saying that it's been illegal to
import or sell nicotine vapes without a prescription in Australia
since mid twoenty twenty one. What we also know though,
is that vapes that do not contain nicotine are currently
legal in New South Wales, but a lot of ease
cigarettes with nicotine are being sold without a label that's
(03:56):
advertising that products have nicotine. Basically, people are flatting the
rules all over the place and because of this inquiry,
doctor Mendelssohn is basically saying what we want to do
is we know that some kids are addicted and they're
going to continue to vape no matter what, and therefore
his focus is on minimizing harm for the child and
(04:16):
harm to the classroom. He also said this was interesting.
He said vaping was one of the least harmful risk
behavior's children indulge in. And he said he would much
rather his children or grandchildren vape than smoke or drink
drive regardless, really really really bad for you, really unhealthy.
And this is the conversation that's happening right now.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
So I guess the thing that I find most intriguing
about this is just the acknowledgment we know how harmful
cigarettes are. Yeah, nicotine is a drug that our kids
have access to every day, Like they can walk into
any store as long as they've got an adult purchasing
for them, they can get access to it whenever they want.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Smoking is on the way down, by the way, Smoking
has been on the way down for quite.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
A while, but vaping has gone through the room.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, yep.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And so it's really intriguing to me that we're having
a conversation about how we teach our kids to have
safe access to it when we recognize and know just
how harmful it is.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, the impact of vaping on physical health, but also
mental health. There's concerned that if someone's anxious or depressed
or using vapes for other reasons and it could exacerbate
those issues. I'm really sympathetic to an understanding of the
compassionate grounds for a harm reduction policy. But fundamentally these
(05:34):
things are dangerous. I read something that there's something like
two hundred chemicals contained in vapes, and many of those
chemicals cause cancer. It's known that they're carcinogens. I just
think it's nuts that people are getting away with this
and that the government doesn't do muto crack down. I
mean it's almost like they've shrugged their shoulder and said, oh,
too bad, so sad. We're having this inquiry, We're going
(05:55):
to try to tighten things up, but ultimately people are
still going to do it. I guess that's what government
it's therefore, so that they can try to make something happen.
That's an improvement. Definitely, definitely don't let your kids vape.
Encourage them to stay away from it. If you want
more about that, have listened to my conversation with doctor
Lisa de Moore on Instagram. We will link to that
one in the show notes. Story number three has regulation
(06:19):
around vaping titans right the way across the country.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
There are concerns the crackdown might cause kids and teens
to switch to other products. Yeah, I mean nicotine pouches
have now grown in popularity after viral videos advertise them
as a means of quitting e cigarettes. Well, this is
actually a little bit of an extension from the vaping conversation.
Kids are now having access to nicotine pouches.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, so there's a brand new nicotine product out. It's
becoming increasingly popular with young people. And here's the scary thing.
A lot of parents won't even know that their kids
are using it because they're essentially invisible nicotine pouches. They're
called zins or snuffs or little lip pillows. It sounds
so nice, So it sounds so friendly, So gentle a
little lippillow. They've become fashionable, all thanks to what do
you know, social media? Social media is the harder kind
(07:03):
of everything that's going wrong with the world. I think
they look like these tiny teapags. They're filled with nicotine
flavors include mint, bubblegum, mango. It sounds so good, doesn't it.
And you just place this tiny little nicotine pouch between
your lip and your gum and the nicotine is absorbed
directly into the bloodstream. Here's what some young people said
on a Current Affair about these nicotine pouches. I was
(07:24):
in high school.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A lot of people are doing them, and that's where
I initially tried them.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Eighteen year old Matilda and twenty year old Jacob have
both tried pouches.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You pull it out and it's like, just like gum.
People ain't really like blank an eye at.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It rather than seeing pops of clouds coming out.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
At one point I put eight in just for the
giggles and it killed one mouth.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So the whole goal is that these pouches are very,
very discreet, they smell good, and unfortunately they get you
addicted to nicotine.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Well it's like a breath freshener with a kick, right.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Oh wow, that sounds like a marketing line. Wow, you
didn't mean that, but that was good. Yeah, And people
keep on mentioning kids in focus groups, keep on mentioning
these pouches. They're getting them from tobacconists, they're buying them online.
They're this trending new thing.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
They're not but did you say they're illegal.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They are not legal products in Australia, and I guess
something aligned with that chewing tobacco that's been banned in
Australia since nineteen ninety one. This is kind of like
a less obvious version of that, and they're not chewing it.
They're just sort of sticking it in between their gums
and their lips. It's kind of crazy. Tobacconists reckon that
nicotine pouch sales are absolutely booming, and no surprise, two
(08:41):
of the largest tobacco companies in the world, Philip Morrison
British American Tobacco have created their own brands. Reading from
news dot com dot U In twenty twenty two, the TGA,
the Therapeutic Goods Administration, sees around about one hundred and
ten thousand of those pouches last year three point five million,
and so far this year, the Federal Health Department reckons
(09:03):
about five point one million units were under assessment for seizure.
These nicotine pouches are booming.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
So the thing that I find really curious about all
of this is just the acknowledgment that often we have
conversations about the fact that the government needs to do
more to safeguard our kids, or you know, to change
laws or whatever. But you're literally telling me that sales
are going through the roof for these pouches, and yet
they're illegal. We have these we have these laws, but
(09:35):
there's no enforcement.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, I'm the legislator, just it's.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Curious to me. If you're going to create a law,
then there needs to be a way to safeguard the
citizens of any society, but also to enforce the law,
or else the law becomes a joke.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah, bigger fines, closing shops, that sort of stuff. He's
an interesting thing that I discovered. A medium strength nicotine
pouch contains about ten milligrams of nicotine. That's a medium
strength about ten milligrams. Average cigarette contains about twelve miligrams
of nicotine.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
But I'm going to assume, though, if these pouches are
directly absorbed into the bloodstream, they're going to be way
more effective.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah. So with a Litz cigarette, because it burns so much,
you only absorb about one point five of that twelve milligrams,
whereas if you've got a ten miligram nicotine pouch, you're
getting every single bit of that is all going in.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
There, so almost ten times.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, it's a really big problem. I Mean,
I just can't believe the ethics of these companies that
create them. Philip Morris, which makes Zinns facing a lawsuit
in America at the moment because of the claims that
it's addictive and harmful to young people, and yet they
keep on making it. Why Because the dollar matters more
than anything else. Story number four.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The South Australian government are working towards banning social media
for under fourteens.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
South Australian Premier Peter Malanaskis says a ban would help
young people improve their mental health. The excessive use of
social media with an ally itself was actually doing harm
to our young people's mental health. And then we're seeing
a dramatic spike in childhood depression, childhood anxiety, and it's
most extreme and for soon evidence of youth suicide. And
(11:19):
I think we're sort of at the point now that
governments have to act.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
This is a really really vexing, really challenging, tricky issue.
Oh gosh, I don't know what the right thing to
do here. People get around bands, banning and regulation and
restriction like this doesn't usually go particularly well. Banning might
seem like the easier answer, it rarely is. However, when
(11:43):
you look at the way school students, too many of
them are using social media the way they're getting likes
and shares and popularity by sharing violent acts that they
commit towards one another, or anti social acts or theft
or I mean, the list is so long that the bullying,
just the awful stuff. There so many things that go
wrong here. I just I think that they need to
(12:04):
be applauded for at least looking into it. They're calling
it ambitious. That's the word that they're using. And under
the proposal, they're saying children aged fourteen and fifteen would
require parental consent to access a social media account. If
you're under fourteen in South Australia, you just wouldn't be
allowed to use social media. Now again, I have no
idea how they'll do that. They've got some very very
(12:24):
credible and thoughtful people looking into what that might look like.
Obviously everyone around the place has got a big opinion
about it. Good on for having a look at it.
If it could be done in a productive and effective way,
I'm off for it. I am actually off for it.
I just think social media, the phone based childhood and
all the awfulness that goes along with it. The more
(12:46):
we can keep our kids away from it, and the
longer we can keep our kids away from it. The
better start, slow, delay access. I mean, this is the
right idea. I don't know whether it can be executed.
I don't know if there's got to be a better
way of doing it, but I've just love that we're
talking about it, and that would not only be enough,
but one more, just one more today because we love
this Week in Parenting.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Australian model Ali Gonzavis said parents go into defense mode
over her viral list containing one hundred and eighteen reasons
not to have kids.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, so this thirty three year old who's been with
her husband for like fifteen years or something, which is
a really I mean, that's great stuff, but she published
this list on social media when absolutely viral. One hundred
and eighteen reasons why I'm never having kids, she said.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
In response to people's queries, she said, this is a
very honest, personal list as to why I will remain
child free. She said, it's my own personal thoughts based
on a lot of my own experiences or things very
honest people have shared with me personally or online. And
then she shares a whole heap of.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Things kids can be rude.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
She said, you have to take in kids to sports
on the weekends. You have to go to your kids
parent teach your interviews. You have to pay school fees
and excess of ten thousand dollars per year. If you
want your kid to go to a good school, then
you've got the C section scars. Your vagina will be
different post natural birth. The epidural needle is massive. A
whole room of people see your vagina and your insights.
(14:15):
You more than likely will pull yourself during birth. You
could get postpartum depression. The food you cook your kids
will usually not be eaten because kids are picky eating.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That's so pressing. So if you have.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Kids and regret it, you're stuck with them forever.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
My favorite one is rule number nineteen or reason number nineteen.
They can pooll inside you. I presume she's speaking about
when the baby is inside you, that it has to
have some sort of waste elimination. I wonder if she
knows that it's all biologically okay, like that's look.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I read the list and obviously.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Body swelling, face swelling. I mean, all of the.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Things are legit, right, they all happen. But the reality
is everybody has their own opportunity to make their own
minds up whether or not they want children or not.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, she's not trying to convince other people that she's right.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No, But what she is saying is that people who
are parents specifically get really upset with her decision not
to and they're trying to convince her that she's making
I don't you know, White people get so hot onto
the color about this, and that's my thing. I just
think each to their own, and based on her list,
she doesn't.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
She probably she's a lot of mum, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Really grateful that she has the foresight to recognize that
she's not a mom.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Best line of the article Gonzalves, who has been with
her husband Ross for fifteen years, so the two of
them have worked really, really hard for peace. Quote now,
we just don't care to disrupt that piece, she said,
Good move, because if you have kids, you're going to
disrupt that piece. As parents of six kids, what is peace?
(15:47):
What is peace? We hope you've enjoyed this week in parenting.
Thanks so much for listening to the Happy Families podcast.
It's produced by Justin Rowland from Bridge Media. Craig Bruce
is our executive producer. For more information about how you
can make your family happy. Yeah, we'd love for you
to visit us at happy families dot com dot au
Speaker 2 (16:08):
H
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