Read articles from Australia

May 16, 2023 by filtermag.org

Australia’s government is intensifying its tight restrictions on nicotine vapes, announcing a ban on the sale of all nonprescription vaping devices, e-liquids, cartridges and related products. While vapes were technically already prescription-only products in the country, they’re still available in some stores. The initiative is intended to crack down on the country’s supply in light of what officials have called a youth vaping “epidemic.”

Critics say that limiting access to vapes will incentivize use of cigarettes, which will see a slight tax increase but remain on store shelves. Smoking currently kills more than 20,000 Australians per year.

May 15, 2023 by watoday.com.au

Owners of Melbourne’s legal e-cigarette stores say they could be forced out of business by the federal government’s proposed vape ban.

Council data shows there are at least 58 vape businesses in metropolitan Melbourne. Some of those business owners say their livelihoods will be ruined by the new laws, which could leave them holding thousands of dollars worth of suddenly illegal stock. Other than pharmacists, retailers will not be able to sell any vape products – whether disposable or non-disposable, containing nicotine or not – under a ban announced by federal Health Minister Mark Butler last week.

May 11, 2023 by abc.net.au

The State Government is preparing to roll out a new education campaign to curb South Australia's worsening e-cigarette problem.
All public high schools across the state will display posters showing the harmful substances found in vapes, such as weed killer and nail polish remover.

A letter from SA's Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, will also be sent to parents and carers to inform them of the dangers.

Health Minister Chris Picton said he hoped educating young people about vapes would stop them from trying e-cigarettes or help them to quit.

May 05, 2023 by nytimes.com

The Australian government said it wanted to crack down on the use of e-cigarettes in an effort to “reduce smoking and stamp out vaping” in one of the most sweeping tobacco regulatory moves in the country in years.

The proposal, announced on Tuesday, would ban all single-use, disposable vapes; stop the importation of nonprescription vapes; require “pharmaceutical-like packaging”; reduce nicotine concentrations and amounts; and restrict certain flavors, colors and ingredients.

May 04, 2023 by abc.net.au

The sale of nicotine vapes and e-cigarettes without a prescription has been illegal in Western Australia for several years, but not a single retailer has been fined in the past 12 months. It comes despite more than 24,000 illegal vapes being seized during that period and the Health Department writing to 3,000 retailers in August last year to place them "on notice".

In WA, the maximum penalty for selling nicotine vapes under the Medicines and Poisons Act 2014 is $45,000.

But disposable nicotine vapes can be easily purchased online and from many convenience stores, delis, smoke shops, and tobacconists in Perth's CBD, its suburbs and in regional WA.

May 03, 2023 by news.com.au

May 03, 2023 by cnn.com

The Australian government will ban e-cigarettes through a heavy set of controls on imports and packaging to discourage vaping, especially among teens, under its biggest smoking reforms in more than a decade.

Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said vaping has become a top behavioral issue in high schools and a growing problem in elementary schools but recognized the products have a therapeutic use under the right circumstances. “Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit,” Butler said. [...]

May 01, 2023 by news.com.au

A crackdown on the importation of vapes, plain-packaging and a ban on flavours will be announced in the May budget to tackle the health emergency of thousands of teenagers who have “gone nuts” for e-cigarettes.

But the second stage of that crackdown – licensing sellers and using that cash to boost enforcement measures at a state level – is the next phase of a world-leading crackdown.

April 24, 2023 by mja.com.au

Vaping in Australian schools is becoming widespread, with some students taking up e-cigarettes because they are seeing their peers vape.

Schools are increasingly expected to address an ever-expanding variety of societal issues affecting their students, ranging from physical fitness and obesity to bullying and mental health problems.

More recently, vaping has become a dominating concern that is impairing schools’ ability to deliver on their primary task of educating our young (here and here).

This state of affairs is occurring despite a regulatory system in Australia that bans the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, regardless of whether the devices contain nicotine.

April 20, 2023 by canberratimes.com.au