E-cigarettes in Australia

Australia: The Australian Heart Foundation has called for an import ban on e-cigarettes. In a submission to a public consultation by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the foundation said that e-cigarettes, with or without nicotine, should be declared “prohibited imports”. It also said the TGA should ban all e-liquid flavours other than tobacco, reduce the nicotine concentration, and establish labelling and packaging requirements.

Australia: The Federal Council of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has passed a motion demanding tighter regulation of nicotine-free vaping products. The AMA, the doctors’ professional body, wants rules similar to those on tobacco products, with health warnings and plain packaging. It says it will “continue to advocate...to stem the rapidly-growing uptake” of vaping products, which it claims are “clearly marketed towards children”.

Australia: The Australian Capital Territory today passed the Health Legislation Amendment Bill, which amends the 2008 Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act and the 1927 Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act to ban the sale of e-cigarettes from vending machines and implement stronger measures to enforce the ban on the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s.

Australia: The head of the Therapeutic Goods Authority (TGA), John Skerrit, has acknowledged that the nicotine e-cigarette regulations implemented on 1st October last year have not been effective, smoking cessation specialist Colin Mendelsohn reports. Skerrit admitted that despite the requirement of a prescription to purchase nicotine-containing e-cigarettes only 10% of adult vapers have a prescription. He said a large number of low quality products hade been imported and were being illegally sold in the country. And he said that of Australia’s 130,000 registered doctors, only 1,353 had applied for authorisation to prescribe e-cigarettes.

Australia: The South Australian state government has launched a plan to reduce the use of e-cigarettes among school students by providing training and preventive campaigns, press reports. A report by the state’s commissioner for children and young people found two thirds of the 1,000 teenagers consulted had tried vaping and 25% used e-cigarettes regularly.

Australia: More than 15,000 nicotine-containing e-cigarettes have been seized in Western Australia in an operation analysing the content of e-cigarettes that were claimed not to contain nicotine. The state authorities have put more than 3,000 retailers on notice, advising them that the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes other than by a pharmacy and without a medical prescription is banned.

Australia: A change of government, following the weekend’s election, could have a direct impact on nicotine and innovative tobacco products in the country. The Australian Labor Party, which has promised to crack down on “unhealthy products”, now has 75 seats in the House of Representatives (out of 151) and 26 in the Senate (out of 76). This approach, together with the existing 2030 National Tobacco Strategy, which will be focused on reducing tobacco lobbying and holding public campaigns warning of the dangers of tobacco products, is sure to play a big role in future regulation.