Australia announced a sweeping crackdown on cigarette vaping on Tuesday, accusing tobacco companies of hooking the next “generation of nicotine addicts” by deliberately targeting teenagers.
Billed as the country’s largest smoke-free reform in the past decade, Australia will ban single-use disposable cigarettes, stop importing over-the-counter versions and limit the amount of nicotine e-cigarettes can contain.
Australia has long been at the forefront of efforts to eradicate smoking, and in 2012 became the first country to introduce plain packaging laws for cigarettes – a policy followed by France, Britain and elsewhere.
However, in recent years Australia has struggled to contain the boom in recreational vaping, especially among teenagers.
“Vaping has become the number one behavioral problem in high schools. And it’s spreading to elementary schools,” said Health Secretary Mark Butler.
“Just like they did with tobacco, Big Tobacco took another addictive product, wrapped it in a glossy wrapper and added flavors to create a new generation of nicotine addicts,” he added.
People will still be able to use prescription vaping as a smoking cessation aid.
“Vaping was sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit. It was not sold as a recreational product – especially not to our children,” said Butler.
The minister also announced that Australia will raise the tobacco sales tax by five per cent every year for the next three years.
Heavy tobacco taxes mean Australia already has some of the most expensive cigarettes in the world, with a pack of 25 selling for around A$50.
In theory, it is already illegal in Australia to buy nicotine e-cigarettes without a prescription. But in practice, they remain widely available at small convenience stores, a burgeoning black market that the government has struggled to contain.
Electronic cigarettes were introduced in the early 2000s and were initially advertised as a less harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes loaded with cancer-causing chemicals.
But an emerging body of research has shown that vaping can also be highly addictive.
A 2022 Australian National University study found that teens who vape were three times more likely to start smoking.
“Nicotine use in children and adolescents can lead to lifelong addiction problems, as well as concentration and learning problems,” the researchers said at the time.
“Vapes deliver hundreds of chemicals, some known to be toxic and many others of unknown effects.”
Australia has one of the lowest daily smoking rates in the world, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, but has seen an increase in the number of cigarette smokers under the age of 25.
Source: DN
