From the BMJ, 4 May 2023:
The importation and sale of all e-cigarettes, regardless of whether they are labelled as containing nicotine or not, will soon be banned in Australia, unless they are supplied by prescription through a licensed pharmacist.
The crackdown by the Australian government was announced amid concerns that a growing black market in vapes is fuelling a rise in child and adolescent vaping and nicotine addiction.
The move also includes a ban on all single use disposable vapes, restrictions on flavours, a shift to plain packaging, and a reduction in the concentration and volume of nicotine permitted in the devices.
“This is a moment to shut down a major health risk to the youngest generation of Australians,” federal health minister Mark Butler said in a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra on 2 May. “After doing so much work over so many decades to drive down smoking as the biggest killer of Australians, the idea that we would just put a new generation at risk, creating a new generation of nicotine addicts, is just beyond us.” Read more (paywall).
Bianca Nogrady 