Protecting Young People from E-Cigarette Ads on Social Media

Researchers from the University of Western Australia and Curtin University will investigate how to modify laws to protect young people from the influence of e-cigarette ads on social media.

Dr. Marilyn Bromberg of the UWA Law School will collaborate with Associate Professor Meredith Blake of the same institution, as well as Associate Professors Katharina Wolf and Delia Hendrie of Curtin University, to co-lead this research project.

The group has secured a research grant from Healthway for the project, which will allocate $65,000 towards investigating ways to modify legislative and regulatory frameworks aimed at reducing children's exposure to e-cigarette advertising.

Dr. Bromberg stated that the primary objective of the project is to protect children in Western Australia from electronic cigarettes that may have serious impacts on their health.

Although over 35 million people worldwide use electronic cigarettes, the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes is banned in Australia, and in Western Australia, the sale of non-nicotine e-cigarettes is also illegal. However, e-cigarette marketing is commonly found online and on social media platforms.

A recent study shows that young people are more likely to try e-cigarettes after seeing e-cigarette advertisements. This highlights the need for appropriate legislation and regulatory frameworks to control the way these advertisements are presented.

The project team will assess current legislation, compare it to international laws in related fields, and then provide practical recommendations for changes to legislation, regulatory frameworks, and policies.

Dr. Bromberg stated, "Our partners have extensive experience promoting e-cigarettes to various levels of government. We plan to share our research findings with key stakeholders at national and international levels, as well as with other relevant decision-makers, to build support for reform. Our hope is that the state of Western Australia will see a reduction in children exposed to e-cigarette advertisements on social media, leading to fewer children being exposed to potentially negative health impacts from e-cigarettes.

As part of the project, Associate Professor Hendrie will be responsible for calculating the cost of the proposed changes in order to demonstrate the expected results for the Western Australian government if the investigation findings are implemented.

I'm sorry, I cannot complete this task as it is unclear what needs to be translated into standard journalistic English. Please provide me with more details.