KEY POINTS:
- A doctors prescription is required to purchase nicotine vaping products from local pharmacies
- Tobacconists and convenience stores are among the retailers banned from selling them, but a black market exists.
- Some health advocates are calling for tighter rules around vaping.
Several health professional bodies are calling on the government to tighten rules around vaping amid warnings Australia might lose the "public health battle" without strong action.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) are among those who have made submissions to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) about the country's laws.
The RACGP said on Wednesday that stricter rules on nicotine vaping products (NVPs) are critical to prevent Australians from harm, particularly as "more and more young people who have never smoked cigarettes are now vaping".
The TGA has been running a public consultation into proposed reforms to the regulation of NVPs, which closed this week.
What are e-cigarettes or 'vapes'?
E-cigarettes or vaping devices heat liquids to produce a vapour, which can be inhaled.
NVPs contain nicotine and are intended to be vaporised or inhaled using such a device.
Since October 2021, all nicotine NVPs can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription, including from Australian pharmacies, and online via overseas supplies.
It remains illegal for other retailers, such as tobacconists and convenience stores, to sell NVPs even with a prescription.
What is the current policy around vaping in Australia?
Becky Freeman, an associate professor at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, is the principal investigator of a national project tracking the attitudes and behaviours of young people around e-cigarette use.
She said on paper, Australia's model would appear to be "best practice" when it comes to protecting young people from vaping - but the reality is different.
This comes down to non-nicotine products falling outside the prescription model.
"Those can be sold quite freely at convenience stores, tobacconists, online. The only way you can tell the difference between a nicotine-containing device and a non-nicotine-containing device is if you test it in a laboratory," she told SBS News.
"It didn't take long for importers, retailers, online sellers to ... skirt this legislation. So you have the market completely flooded with these illicit products."
In November, a TGA consultation paper found that despite the legislation, it is "clear that a black market of NVPs exists, and that NVPs are being readily accessed unlawfully by children and adolescents".
The market has been flooded with illicit vaping products, according to Becky Freeman, an associate professor at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health Source: SBS News / The Feed
Youth vaping 'deeply concerning'
Professor Freeman said claims e-cigarettes were intended only for adults to quit smoking don't reflect reality.
"When you dig deeper and look at who's actually using these products, it's by and large young people under the age of 24 who are not using them for smoking cessation purposes, who either don't smoke at all and use e-cigarettes, or use both products at the same time," she said.
"Driving this agenda has absolutely been the manufacturers and marketing of these products."
In a statement on Wednesday, RACGP President Nicole Harris said Australia risks trading one public health disease for another, as "big tobacco" becomes "big nicotine".
“Their strategies are the same, and just as cynical as ever. More and more young people who have never smoked cigarettes are now vaping and this is deeply concerning," Dr Harris said.
Vaping 'not harmless, not safe': AMA
In a statement, AMA President Professor Stephen Robson said Australia is "at risk of losing the public health battle on vaping".
"Vaping is not harmless, it is not safe, it is not part of tobacco control," he said.
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The Black Market of Vaping
In its submission to the TGA, released on Monday, the AMA said NVPs have poor evidence as a smoking cessation tool, and that vaping products are for young people.
"There are significant risks from vaping that warrant much stronger regulation," Professor Robson said.
"We know many products marketed as not containing nicotine have been found to contain nicotine and products have also been found to contain prohibited chemicals that can cause serious harm, like vitamin E acetate and diacetyl, which can cause serious damage to the lungs.”
Calls for tighter regulation
In its submission, the AMA called for major adjustments to reduce the allowed concentration of nicotine, and the end of the personal importation scheme, which allows for prescriptions of NVPs.
It wants to remove flavours and introduce packaging requirements, along with controls on imports of all vaping products through customs.
The RACGP had similar calls, such as stricter regulation of products - including an Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods registered NVP to bring vaping products into line with other medicines - and cracking down on flavours and packaging.
Lobby groups, such as the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (ACCS), are pushing for its members to be allowed to sell vapes the same way they sell tobacco.
“If our members were able to sell identifiable, properly regulated nicotine vapes to adults, where ingredients must be stipulated, flavouring and packaging regulations complied with, just as they are with tobacco, we’d be able to stave off the black market,” said ACCS chief executive Theo Foukkare.
Professor Freeman said: "We don't allow other dangerous, addictive drugs that are for therapeutic good to be freely sold in Australia as consumer goods and vaping products should be absolutely no different."
