Will be banned by the Australian government electronic cigarette through strict import and packaging controls to discourage vaping, especially among teenagers, as part of its biggest smoking reform in more than a decade.
Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said on Tuesday that the Vaping has become one of the main behavioral problems in high school and a growing problem in elementary school, but recognize that the products have therapeutic uses in the right circumstances.
It is usually thought of as an alternative to smoking cigarettes and a product to help smokers quit smoking, but instead, teenagers and even young children are embracing vaping as a Addictive habits Worldwide.
“Vaping has been sold to governments and communities around the world as a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit,” Butler says. “It wasn’t sold as a recreational product, especially not for our kids. But that’s what it became: the biggest loophole in Australian history.”
Vaping consists of heating a liquid containing nicotine in an electronic cigarette that the user vaporizes and inhales.
Before the changes announced on Tuesday, the only legal way to sell a nicotine vape in Australia was through a doctor’s prescription to a pharmacy, but the products were still widely sold across the country.
Announcing the new regulations, Butler said the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes will be banned and vaping products will be required to have pharmaceutical-grade packaging, with the sole purpose of being sold as products to help smokers quit.
will be limited bright colored packaging and pleasant tastes that appealed to younger users, and all single-use and disposable vaping devices will be banned, according to Butler.
“The taste of chewing gum is over. No more pink unicorns. No more electronic cigarettes that are deliberately disguised as markers so that minors can hide them in their cases”, added the Minister of Health.
Remove electronic cigarettes from stores
In suburban Brisbane, Ali Ayoub sells a variety of colorful vapes with sweet flavors, including pineapple punch, custard, caramel and melon menthol, and he disagrees that young people use these products. now they will smoke normal cigars.
Have you ever tried a cigarette? It tastes terrible. Children love the fruity taste. It’s kind of sweet,” he said.
Ayoub claimed that a ban on recreational vaping would bankrupt his business: “What’s the point of a vape shop if I can’t sell tobacco? What else can I sell?” he asked.
Ali Ayoub, a vape shop operator, sells a variety of colored, candy-like liquids in Brisbane.
While CNN was talking to Ayoub, one of his regular customers came to buy a disposable watermelon-pineapple-flavored and nicotine vape. The customer, who did not want to be named, said he wouldn’t mind giving vapers if they were banned. “I can quit smoking, it’s not like I’m addicted,” he said.
But he said that without vape, “I would buy a pack of cigarettes, it’s nicotine.”
Wayne Hall, professor emeritus at the National Center for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland, said the Australian Medical Association advises against prescribing vaping products to help people quit nicotine, so anyone currently buying them without a prescription is in breach. the law .
“A ban on the sale of disposable vaporizers is welcome as a deterrent to young people, but much more will need to be done to ensure smokers have easy and legal access to licensed vaping products,” he said.
In addition to the ban, the Australian government is increasing tobacco tax at 5% per annum for the next three years from September 1. Currently, a pack of 20 cigarettes costs about A$35 (US$23), considerably more than in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Cigarettes sold in Australia carry shocking warnings and images showing the health impacts of smoking.
Concerns about vaping worldwide
Researchers have found the link between nicotine addiction among adolescents and children as a result of increased vaping habits. Tobacco use among teenagers has also been linked to psychological problems, headache and stomach ache and high nicotine dependence.
Some argue that e-cigarettes are a good substitute for regular cigarettes, and in some countries they are even promoted as smoking cessation devices. But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that “electronic cigarettes are not safe for adolescents, young adults, and pregnant women, as well as for infants.” adults who do not currently use tobacco products.
Nicotine is highly addictive and can be maldevelopment of the adolescent brainthat continues into your early to mid-20s, the CDC also warns.
Vaping has become ubiquitous in many of America’s high schools, prompting the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin addressing “epidemic” levels of vaping among minors in recent years. About 2.55 million middle and high school students in the United States use e-cigarettes, according to the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
According to a study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, teenagers start vaping less and less and consume e-cigarettes more intensely.
Antes de que se anunciaran los cambios, la única forma legal de vender un vapeador de nicotina en Australia era con una receta proporcionada por un médico a una farmacia, pero los productos todavía se vendían ampliamente en todo el país. https://t.co/2a7uSLeFmf
— CNN en Español (@CNNEE) May 2, 2023
In Australia, young people use e-cigarettes disproportionately: one in six teenagers aged 14-17 have tried vaping, while one in four aged 18-24 have also tried it, according to recent data they
According to the government, there Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in AustraliaSo he wants people to quit smoking and plans to spend millions of dollars on programs to help them quit smoking, without first resorting to e-cigarettes.
The UK is taking a different approach: it’s pushing vaping as a springboard to help long-term smokers quit.
Under a British government plan announced in April, up to one million smokers will be encouraged to switch from cigarettes to vaping.
Under the scheme, nearly one in five smokers will receive a “vaping starter kit” along with behavioral support to help them kick the habit, according to the UK Ministry of Health.
Financial incentives will also be offered to pregnant women to quit smoking, in what will be a world first, the government added.
