Australia’s vaping rules: The policy so bad it never even made it to a first review
11 November 2022 | For immediate release
TGA reveals in Senate Estimates that scheduled reviews of the regulations banning retail sales of nicotine vaping products never happened
Reviews which were promised when regulations were introduced have been “supplanted” by “consultations”
The policy was designed to stop youth access to vapes and manage adult consumption – instead both have exploded in a massive policy failure
Legalise Vaping Australia calls for immediate disclosure on what has happened to the reviews
The revelation that promised reviews of Australia’s prohibition-style vaping regulations never happened underscore the complete failure of the policy, Legalise Vaping Australia said today.
In an extraordinary Senate Estimates hearing yesterday the Head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Deputy Secretary Adjunct Professor Dr John Skerritt, disclosed that reviews of the TGA’s regulations on vaping, which force adults to get a prescription to legally purchase nicotine vaping products, have not proceeded.
Instead they have been replaced by various roundtables and closed consultations, including a meeting of “vaping experts” in September that nobody has heard anything about.
Dr Skerritt also admitted that the policy was not serving its purpose and that children had too much access to illegal vaping products.
Legalise Vaping campaign director Brian Marlow said: “The Australian Government tried to ban vaping a year ago and now it’s gone mainstream.
“About 1.2 million adults are vaping, hundreds of thousands more than a year ago, and as much as 90% of them are buying them illegally. This black market also supplies to kids.
“It is deeply concerning that after presiding over this failure that the TGA is now apparently running another process to update the legislation.
“Federal and state government officials continue to confuse consumers on the risks of vaping relative to smoking, which is the biggest cause of preventable deaths on our health system.
“This is a consumer product now and it should be regulated appropriately with licensed retail sales, product standards, and heavy penalties for sales to minors.
“The prescription model has had the opposite effect of what it was designed to do and the fact that it wasn’t even reviewed is testament to its complete failure.”
“Australia has taken the strictest approach of any OECD country and you only need to look on the street to see the results.
“There should be much more accountability at the government level for the shambles this has inflicted on the Australian public.”
Brian Marlow is available for interview: 0439 138 826