SYDNEY: Australia has announced to ban recreational vaping by launching a crackdown on e-cigarettes.
Authorities said that minimum quality standards will be introduced and the sale of vapes will be restricted to pharmacies, Reuters said. Nicotine vapes require a prescription in Australia, but the industry is poorly regulated, and the black market is thriving.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said the products create a new generation of nicotine addicts.
Also known as e-cigarettes, vapes heat the liquid – usually containing nicotine – turning it into the vapour that users inhale. They’re widely seen as the product to help smokers quit.
But in Australia, vapes have become the recreational product hit at kids and “sold alongside lollies and chocolate bars” in retail stores, Butler said in a speech announcing reforms on Tuesday.
“Just like they’d with smoking… ‘Huge Tobacco’ has taken another addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and attached sweet flavours to create the new generation of nicotine addicts,” he said.
Vapes ‘safer’ than regular cigarettes
Vapes are considered safer than regular cigarettes because they don’t contain harmful tobacco. But doctors advise that vapes are not risk-free – they can often contain chemicals -and their long-term implications are unclear.
But the Australian government argues they’re a public health threat that disproportionately targets young people. Analysts suggest one in six Australians aged 14-17 has vaped, and one in four citizens aged 18-24.
“Only 1 in 70 citizens my age has vaped,” Butler, 52, said. He would announce new measures, including banning all disposable vapes and importing non-prescription products. Prescriptions would be necessary for vaping products that remain legal, and they would be required to have pharmaceutical-like packaging. Ban on flavours, colours, nicotine concentrations and other ingredients will also be introduced.
Butler said the government would also seek to make it easier for citizens to get a prescription for
“legitimate therapeutic use”. Some other countries, like Singapore and Thailand, have banned vaping.
Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, has been recommending reforms but politicians, industry bodies and health professionals said Australia should relax its laws.
National Party leader David Littleproud argues that Australia should copy New Zealand’s approach and regulate nicotine vapes like cigarettes.
