A $234 million package to crack down on vaping has been announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in tonight’s budget, as part of health measures to head off a new generation of nicotine-addicted Australians.
The government aims to reduce daily smoking limits to below 10 per cent by 2025 and to 5 per cent or lower by 2030, a move that specifically imposes stronger regulation and enforcement for e-cigarettes, placing controls on their importation, contents and packaging.
It will become illegal to import vapes unless they are to be prescribed by a doctor and there will be no more flavoured and colourful vapes – which will also come in plain packaging.
However, not everyone is convinced the new budget proposals will work.
“I am gravely concerned that the government’s new policy will do more harm than good,” Professor Ron Borland, who teaches health behaviour at the University of Melbourne’s School of Psychological Sciences, told Central News.
“There is no reasonable doubt that vaping is a lot less harmful than smoking, and these changes are likely to increase smoking rates and thus increase the burden of ill health and premature mortality in Australia.”
Professor Borland and other experts would like to see Australia take a page from New Zealand’s vaping response. Vapes are legal for those over 18 in New Zealand but must meet a number of strict safety protocols including health warnings on packages.
Vaping is a lot less harmful than smoking, and these changes are likely to increase smoking rates and thus increase the burden of ill health and premature mortality.
However Central Queensland University researcher Linda Lorenza commended the move for more regulation.
“This allocation is massive in the war on e-cigarettes. It’s a decision that has the future in mind,” she said.
“The future health of those who are vulnerable to this new-wave nicotine substance.”
However, she urged the government to not stop at regulation.
“There’s more to it than regulation,” she added. “We should be looking at prevention in the form of packaging and lengthy advertising campaigns.
“We need to make it harder for e-cigarette products to enter our country.”
Problems with black market vaping have persisted despite government regulations to curtail their growth.
Health Minister Mark Butler told the National Press Club last week: “The former government ended up creating the perfect conditions for this unregulated, essentially illegal market to flourish right before our eyes.”
Image by Vaping360/Flickr
