The Australian authorities will attempt to stamp out leisure vaping by banning nicotine-free vapes and solely permitting these with nicotine to be offered by pharmacies in medical-style packaging to folks with prescriptions.
“Vaping is creating a whole new generation of nicotine dependency in our community,” Australia’s well being minister Mark Butler stated in a press launch on 2 May. “It poses a major threat to Australia’s success in tobacco control.”
Since 2021, Australia has solely allowed nicotine-containing vapes to be offered by pharmacies to individuals who have been prescribed them by a physician to assist them give up smoking. However, nicotine-free vapes have been legally in the stores at comfort shops, petrol stations and different retailers.
Because these nicotine-free vapes are troublesome to control, “there are many cases of products being falsely labelled as nicotine-free or simply not listing nicotine in the ingredients even when it is there”, says Oliver Jones at RMIT University in Melbourne.
These nicotine-containing merchandise, which regularly are available in shiny packaging with fruity flavours, are getting younger folks hooked, says Becky Freeman on the University of Sydney. According to a nationwide survey, 5.3 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds have been utilizing e-cigarettes in 2019 – nearly double the speed in 2016 – and analysis suggests these utilizing them are 3 times as prone to take up smoking.
“Although vapes were first introduced as a tool to help adults quit or reduce smoking, these devices are largely used by youth who are not current or ever-users of tobacco,” says Courtney Barnes on the University of Newcastle in Australia.
To attempt to deal with this, the federal government will ban nicotine-free vapes and tighten the principles for prescription-only nicotine vapes: the quantity of nicotine they’re allowed to comprise will likely be lowered, flavours and colourings will likely be restricted and so they must be offered in pharmaceutical-looking packaging. Single-use disposable vapes will likely be banned.
“These are supposed to be pharmaceutical products, so they will have to present that way – no more bubblegum flavours or pink unicorn packaging,” stated Butler in a speech to Australia’s National Press Club on 2 May. A timeline for implementation has not been introduced.
Australia has one of many world’s lowest smoking charges, with solely 11 per cent of individuals over 15 smoking every day. It has achieved this by introducing obligatory plain packaging for cigarettes with graphic well being warnings, rising their price by means of taxes and banning smoking in lots of public areas.
Butler stated that cracking down on leisure vaping was essential to cease these good points from being undone. “We will not stand by and allow vaping to create another generation of nicotine addicts.”
“While there may be potential unintended effects of this decision, for example restricting vaping might drive people back to traditional cigarettes, which are obviously worse, I think these are unlikely and so today’s announcement is a welcome move by the government,” says Jones.
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Source: www.newscientist.com