Australia’s drug regulator is expected to recommend sweeping import bans on vaping products, as new research shows young people who use e-cigarettes are much more likely to go on to smoke regular cigarettes than those who don’t.
This week the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will deliver its recommendations to the government on how vaping laws should be changed to tackle rising vaping rates, particularly among young people.
Peak health bodies including the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Cancer Council have united in their call for a blanket ban on the importation of all nicotine vaping products without a prescription.
It follows a consultation process that closed in January, with the TGA receiving about 4,000 submissions in response to proposed reforms, which included a complete ban on the importation of vaping products without a prescription from a GP, whether they contain nicotine or not. Tough laws around advertising are also expected.
The submissions will be published by the end of the week as the TGA provides its report of recommendations to the health department.
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, said problems related to vaping had “exploded over the last several years” and were “completely unacceptable”.
“It’s now the job of governments to take action,” he said. “Health ministers are determined to take strong action about the explosion of illegal vaping.”
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Butler said that at a meeting with his state and territory counterparts on 24 February, health ministers had agreed to establish a national “e-cigarette working group” to review and advise on any measures implemented as a result of the TGA review. The working group will focus on “addressing the increasing availability, appeal, and uptake of vaping products,” Butler said.
Guardian Australia understands the TGA, the federal department of health and Border Force are already working collaboratively before the TGA recommendations are provided to the government.
Peer-reviewed research published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday night and led by public health physician Prof Emily Banks of the Australian National University found young non-smokers who use e-cigarettes are about three times as likely to go on to smoke regular cigarettes, compared with young people who did not use e-cigarettes.
The review found that e-cigarettes can help some smokers to quit, but most smokers who vape continue to smoke, and most young people who use e-cigarettes do not use them for the purpose of quitting smoking.
“The evidence supports Australia’s prescription-only model for e-cigarettes, which aims to avoid use in non-smokers and young people while targeting use for smokers seeking to quit,” Banks said.
“While we know about some of the risks of vaping, the review found that the effects of e-cigarettes on major health conditions like cancer and cardiovascular disease, are unknown.
“People using vapes are inhaling a complex cocktail of chemicals.”
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The AMA’s president, Prof Steve Robson, said there was “more than enough evidence” for strong action to enforce a prescription-only model for vaping products.
“Australian governments need to act now to enforce existing laws and clamp down on illegal non-prescription sale of e-cigarettes, as well as strengthen controls on the importation of all – nicotine and non-nicotine – vaping products,” Robson said.
“This will help us start to tackle the issue of vapes being marketed and sold to children.”
Research published by public health professor Becky Freeman in late February described how vaping importers and retailers “are exploiting an exemption for non-nicotine products in regulations, and nicotine-containing products are masquerading as non-nicotine products”. As Guardian Australia previously reported, manufacturers are labelling products containing nicotine as “nicotine-free” to get around the import ban, leaving children often unknowingly inhaling nicotine and becoming addicted.
“The ideal public health solution would see the elimination of all vaping product sales, nicotine and non-nicotine alike, that fall outside of the TGA prescription-only access pathway,” Freeman’s paper said.
The proposed reforms such as a stronger prescription-only model has led to big tobacco companies, which own and fund some vaping companies and lobby groups, to renew their efforts in recent months to push for vape products to be allowed in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Those who support vaping argue the proposed importation reforms will lead to an increase in the black market.
Banning all imports outside a prescription is a move also supported by the chair of the Cancer Council’s public health committee, Anita Dessaix. She said the “overwhelming majority of Australians, 89%”, do not smoke and that e-cigarettes are “not safe and threaten Australia’s hard-fought tobacco control successes”.
“Every state, territory and the federal government now has more than enough evidence to act immediately to reduce illegal supply and access,” Dessaix said.