Losing health battle to black market fancy-flavoured vapes

Australia risks losing the public health battle on vaping unless it introduces stronger, strictly-enforced regulation to stop the rapid uptake of vaping, particularly among children.

The AMA this week released its submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) consultation on potential reforms of regulation of nicotine vaping products (NVP).

AMA President Professor Steve Robson said, “Vaping is not harmless, it is not safe and it is not part of tobacco control.

“Australia is losing the public health battle on vaping and improving safety and removing loopholes in their regulation is essential to reversing this.”

Professor Robson said the AMA had repeatedly called for limitations on access to NVPs, which have a poor evidence base as a smoking cessation tool, by banning the personal importation of NVPs and reducing the allowed concentration of nicotine.

Although the TGA consultation focusses on NVPs, the AMA supports the introduction of controls on the importation of all vaping products through customs.

AMA Vice President Dr Danielle McMullen told the ABC’s World Today, “We are hugely concerned about the rapid rise in vaping, particularly among children and young people who have really taken up this nicotine addiction and habit of vaping.

“We are seeing extraordinarily high rates with the latest report from NSW Health showing 11 per cent of 16 to 24 year-olds are currently vapers.

“We are seeing a huge black market operating and we all know it’s really easy for kids and adults to go and purchase these brightly-coloured, fancy-flavoured vapes from a local convenience store under the counter.”

Professor Robson told ABC Radio in Melbourne if people used nicotine vapes as an aid to smoking cessation they needed to work with their doctor as part of a broader strategy to help people improve their health.

“We are also very concerned about recreational vaping – they allegedly are non-nicotine vapes.

“A lot of them do contain nicotine and even though there are laws on recreational vapes, the regulation of them is very lax…as I think many parents know and many people around the community see.

“So certainly we think there is a place for making sure that those who are using vapes as part of a smoking cessation regime with their doctor.

“But I think after decades of hard work on tobacco policy our major concern is that the recreational vapes are just blowing out of all proportion and undoing a huge amount of work that we did in Australia …..over many decades to try and stop smoking.

“And we now see a whole generation of young Australians hooked on recreational vapes.”