Health Minister Mark Butler has dismissed concerns that Australia’s vaping ban is delayed, as the government receives advice this week on how to instigate the crackdown and close loopholes that allow them to be sold on the black market.
“It hasn’t been delayed,” he said.
“What we’ve really been working through is whether we’re going to be able to deal with this through one piece of Commonwealth legislation, which would be preferred, or whether every single parliament in the country is going to have to enact effectively mirroring legislation that will be, difficult, complex and probably take some time.
“We know that there will be a furious response by the industry. There has been every time we’ve tried to regulate nicotine or tobacco. So, we want to make sure that we get this right.”
The comments from the minister follow his announcement of a $234 million (US$151 million) package to regulate e-cigarettes, including new controls on their importation and packaging.
Mr. Butler noted that Australia’s decision to ban vapes was world-leading and that he was determined to get it right, but that the laws had to be specific, to stop any further loopholes the industry was taking advantage of.
“These are increasingly dangerous. You’re hearing very regular reports of high school kids being taken to emergency departments with nicotine poisoning. The Victorian poisons hotline only recently said they’ve already had 70 cases of toddlers under the age of four poisoned through ingesting vapes. This is becoming a very serious public health crisis, and we’re determined to get the response right,” he said.
Black Market Vaping Industry Targeting Youth
The health minister also said that Australia was seeing a flourishing black market in vaping and that it targeted young Australians.“This black market that’s flourished is cynically targeted at kids,” He said.
“You can tell that through the fact that they’re bubble gum flavoured and they’ve got pink unicorns on them. It’s not as if those sorts of things are targeted at the middle-aged, hardened smoker, which is what we were told was the purpose of vapes.
“Now, about one in five young Australians and one in seven high school kids are vaping.”
He said that the federal government needs to take strong action on the illegal market of nicotine products.
“To his credit, Greg Hunt [the former health minister] tried to do that,” Mr. Butler said.
“He tried to put in place an import control regulation, but he was overruled by his own party room within a few days. So, the border has effectively been open. That’s what we have to do at the Commonwealth level.
Research Reveals 4 in 5 Australian Teenagers Use Vapes
The federal crackdown follows an astonishing report from the Australian National University (ANU) that found four out of five teenagers surveyed, aged between 15 to 17, found it easy or somewhat easy to buy vapes in retail stores.The study also found that one-third of current e-cigarette users in Australia were under 25, and half were under 30.
Lead author of the report Professor Emily Banks, from the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, said the report confirmed there were multiple risks associated with e-cigarettes, particularly for non-smokers, children, adolescents and young adults.
“Recent evidence shows vaping is becoming more popular, especially among children and adolescents, even though it is illegal except on prescription,” Ms. Banks said.
“Almost all e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, which is extremely addictive. Addiction is common in people using vapes, and young people are especially vulnerable to addiction as their brains are still developing.”
According to the report, in 2019, 11 percent of the total Australian population aged 14 and over reported using e-cigarettes, with around a quarter of people aged 18-24 reporting use and five percent reporting current use.
