LATEST ALERTSAustralia: 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.
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From February 2022, subscribers can view and filter individual regulatory alerts per region. If you want to get our monthly compilations, visit our alerts round-up section.
Australia: Calls are being made to equate e-cigarette packaging regulation to that of traditional tobacco products, press reports. Mal Washer, a former member of the Australian Parliament from the Liberal Party, said in an interview that vaping products should be subject to plain packaging restrictions. He added: “The biggest thing in my opinion is making vaping anti-social and to make people realise this product is dangerous.”
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: Fiona Patten, a member of parliament (MP) of the State of Victoria, has shown her support for vaping products through her Twitter account. Patten has criticised the current legal framework, which subjects those products to medical prescription, and has highlighted the potential of vaping devices as smoking cessation tools. Patten is the leader of the liberal Reason Party, which holds 1 out of 40 seats in the Victoria parliament.
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.
Australia: Western Australia’s Department of Health has reported that it seized 950 nicotine-containing e-cigarettes which were being sold without a doctor’s prescription, which has been illegal in Australia since 1st October 2021. Western Australia does not differentiate between nicotine-containing and nicotine-free vaping products, prohibiting non-prescription sales of either.
Australia: The New South Wales Ministry of Health has seized illegal e-cigarettes and nicotine-containing liquids amounting to a value of AUD1m ($690,000) since January 2022. The ministry frequently carries out investigations in order to withdraw illegal products from the market and protect young people. Individuals involved in selling illegal e-cigarettes face sanctions of up to AUD11,000 ($7,600), while corporations may be sanctioned up to AUD55,000 ($38,000).
Australia: The Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday published the results of its 2020/21 smoking and vaping prevalence survey. They show that almost 9.3% of adults have tried vaping at least once and 2.2% vape regularly, including 4.8% of those aged 18-24. In all, 21.7% of 18-24s had tried vaping at least once. Strikingly, the survey also shows that among current smokers, 23.8% were former users of vaping products.
Australia: Doctors and public health experts are reportedly urging the government to ban the sale of nicotine-free vaping products that may seem appealing to children. While nicotine-containing e-cigarettes have been subject to prescription since last October, the import and sale of nicotine-free products are not subject to the same requirement. Since the nicotine-containing vaping products import restrictions came into force, the Border Force has seized 248 shipments of such products.
Australia: The state health and education departments of New South Wales have together launched a campaign to reduce vaping among teenagers. The “Get the Facts – Vaping Toolkit” aims to raise awareness of the alleged harmful long-term effects of vaping, with health minister Brad Hazzard claiming it has been proven that e-cigarettes can be as addictive as combustible cigarettes.
Australia: The government of the Australian state of New South Wales is preparing to adopt measures in order to reduce the consumption of electronic cigarettes among teenagers, press reports. The measures to be taken would be implemented in 2023 and would include, among others, suspending students who are caught vaping at school. The use of e-cigarettes at schools is prohibited, but incidents regarding their use and sale in schools have increased by 771%, according to education documents sent to parliament earlier this year.
