More than $1 million worth of illegal e-cigarettes and liquids containing nicotine have been seized in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, this year.
NSW Health has seized more than $3 million of the banned products since July 2020.
Since October 2021, products containing nicotine are only available for people over the age of 18 when prescribed by a medical practitioner for smoking cessation purposes, from an Australian pharmacy or via importation into Australia with a valid prescription, according to 7News.
For all other retailers in NSW, the sale of e-cigarettes or e-liquids containing nicotine is illegal.
The curb on illegal nicotine sales extends to online shops with the maximum penalty of $1650 per offence, six months in prison or both.
Selling to minors also comes with hefty fines. For individuals, up to $11,000 for a first offence, and up to $55,000 for a second or subsequent offence; and for corporations, up to $55,000 for a first offence, and up to $110,000 for a second or subsequent offence.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said retailers were being put on notice, if they were selling the contraband products.
“We are cracking down on the illegal sale of nicotine e-cigarettes and liquids and taking a zero-tolerance approach to those who sell them,” she said.
“NSW Health regularly conducts raids on retailers across the state to protect young people from these harmful devices. You will be caught, illegal items will be seized, and you could face prosecution, resulting in being fined or even jailed.
“The harmful impacts of vaping on young people cannot be underestimated. People think they are simply flavored water but in reality, in many cases, they are ingesting poisonous chemicals that can cause life-threatening injuries.”
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation says around 14 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds nationwide have tried an e-cigarette, with around 32 percent of these students have used one in the past month
Around 12 per cent of students reported buying an e-cigarette themselves.
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) is urging Australian politicians to debate vaping in the runup the country’s federal election on May 21.
According to the advocacy group, Australian politicians who recognize the public health potential of vaping will be rewarded with votes, “yet most remain too scared to promote the world’s most effective smoking cessation tool.”
Nancy Loucas
“Australia’s political leaders need to pull their heads out of the sand,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of CAPHRA. “Annually, over 20,000 Australian smokers die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, and 2.3 million still smoke. Alarmingly, however, nobody wants to seriously fix successive governments’ failure to reduce tobacco harm.”
Australia is the only Western democracy that requires a nicotine prescription to vape. Further, its Department of Health’s Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022–2030 proposes additional measures to prevent smokers from switching to safer nicotine products.
Loucas suspects that tobacco tax revenues are one of the reasons that vaping has been buried in the election debate. Ongoing increases to tobacco excise have made it the fourth-largest individual tax collected by Australia’s federal government at an estimated $15 billion per financial year, according to CAPHRA.
The group notes that nearly 70 countries have adopted regulatory frameworks on safer nicotine products. All of them have reported a dramatic decline in smoking prevalence since.
“Australia is light-years behind the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand, with some key Asian countries now looking to lift their failed vaping bans. If campaigning Australian politicians really want to save lives this election, well here is their best opportunity by simply a stroke of the pen,” said Loucas.
Australia is lagging well behind many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to successfully tackling smoking through vaping, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).
The CAPHRA’s observation comes as Australia’s Department of Health seeks feedback on its Draft National Smoking Strategy 2022–2030, with public submissions closing on March 24.
“We encourage vapers and supporters of a progressive tobacco harm reduction (THR) approach to have their say. Australians desperate to quit smoking and those keen to stay off deadly cigarettes need all the help they can get,” says Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the CAPHRA.
On Oct. 1, 2021, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration expanded its prescription-only model with customs clamping down at the border on personal imports of nicotine vaping liquids from overseas websites.
Not only does Australia’s draft strategy ignore the potential of safer nicotine products, it also lacks ambition, according to Loucas. The strategy aims for a smoking rate of 10 percent or less by 2025 while New Zealand is pursuing a 5 percent smoke-free goal and looks on target to achieve it. “Instead of banning vaping, New Zealand has regulated it, making it tough for minors to access but available to all adults keen to keep off the cancer sticks. New Zealand is seeing its overall smoking rate tumble, yet the Australian government fails to accept that the most effective smoking cessation tool available is staring it in the face,” says Loucas.
“Australia is well down the world rankings when it comes to adopting effective THR policies and is light-years behind the U.S. and U.K. Subsequently, Australia’s overall smoking rate has fallen very little over the past decade, and without reasonable access to vaping, Australia will struggle to even achieve its 10 percent smoking goal,” says Loucas.
Many countries continue to limit access or have outright banned vaping and e-cigarette products.
By Norm Bour
As much as we would like to think that vaping and the sale of vape products is universally accepted, that is not the case. The world has changed a lot over the past 10 years, and the medical community’s support has carried some weight, but old customs and rituals die hard. Here is an overview of where the status of vape remains iffy.
Turkey
You can use vape products where tobacco is permitted, but the Turkish government is vehemently anti-vape—regardless of the medical documentation that shows the advantages of vaping over combustible cigarettes. Since 2009, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led the campaign against all tobacco products, including cigarettes, regardless of their popularity.
Turkey banned the import of e-cigarettes and related products on Feb. 25, 2020. The ban covers e-cigarettes, accessories, spare parts and solutions (e-liquids) as well as e-cigarette products that use heating or incineration, like electronic hookahs. The country had already banned the sale of electronic cigarettes.
Erdogan’s aggressive posture has resulted in the seizure of almost 18 million packs of cigarettes in 2020 and 140,000 e-cigarettes. The government offers a hotline for people to call and blow the whistle on illegal products, and 1,500 teams scour the country doing random inspections. For vapers, the online channel remains open, and there are many foreigners who vape in the street without concern.
India
With a population of 1.38 billion, India has banned vaping products since 2019. With an estimated 120 million people lighting up, India has the dubious honor of having 12 percent of the world’s cigarette smokers. The country loses about 1 million people per year to tobacco-related illnesses.
India’s aggressive anti-smoking posture has proven successful as the number of smokers has dropped significantly over the past 20 years. In 2000, it was estimated that one-third of the male population smoked, with 5.7 percent of the female population smoking. A decade later, those numbers had dropped to 23 percent for men and 2.5 percent for women. Currently, an estimated 14 percent of the country’s population smokes.
With a 28 percent luxury tax on tobacco, there are huge incentives to quitting smoking in India. The bad news is that vaping products are lumped into the tobacco pile, but evidence for the relative safety of e-cigarettes is gaining ground. The anti-vape campaign was geared toward the young smokers, but there may be light at the end of this tunnel.
Under the guise of preventing potential health risks to the country’s youth, India banned the “import, manufacture, sale, advertisement, storage and distribution” of e-cigarettes in September 2019. However, according to Research and Markets, the Indian e-cigarette market reached a value of $7.8 million in 2018, and it is further predicted to witness a CAGR of 26.4 percent during the forecast period (2019-2024) even with the ban in place.
There is very little regulatory enforcement for vaping products in India. Vaping products are even being displayed on some store shelves. A few of the biggest paanwalas in the cosmopolitan cities reportedly sell Juul and other high-end hardware. It’s not plainly obvious everywhere, and the specialist “vape only” vendors are all clandestine, according to several sources. Most of the specialists are discerning and do not entertain new customers without a reference from a known customer.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia has been a teeter-totter in terms of vapor regulations. In October of 2021, it declared all nicotine products illegal without a doctor’s prescription. The prescription is intended only for the patient and may not be shared or sold. The sole light at the end of this this tunnel is that nicotine- free products are excluded from this heavy-handed ban.
Devices and liquids can be sold in all eight territories, though advertising and promotion is legal in some but illegal in others. Spotty monitoring and enforcement have resulted in a lively online trade in vapor products.
Compared to many countries, the perceived “problems” of youth smoking are modest with percentages of vapers and smokers under 20 percent among different age groups. According to 2021 research from the Australian National University, about 16 percent of current e-cigarette users in Australia are non-smokers who have never inhaled tobacco, while the remaining third are ex-smokers. There are about 400,000 e-cigarette users in Australia.
While often lumped in with Australia by outsiders, New Zealand has followed its own, more reasonable, path in vapor regulation. The small island country of just 5 million people estimates that 11.6 percent of its population smokes. Its priority is on reducing underage vaping and smoking.
The Middle East
Excluding the North African countries sometimes included in the Middle East, this part of the world is home to almost 0.5 billion people and encompasses about 20 percent of the Muslim world. While Islam frowns on tobacco use, many Muslim countries have high smoking rates. While tobacco use has been grudgingly tolerated, vaping was initially disdained, with some countries banning the practice. That is changing, as was evidenced in September 2021 when the World Vape Show was held in Dubai, which has now legalized vaping.
Tim Phillips, managing director of ECigIntelligence, says the United Arab Emirates is leading the Middle East in vape product sales and access, but considering it started from scratch, the numbers are still small. As tobacco-oriented as this part of the world is, buyers prefer flavored liquids with three out of four sales being sweeter fruit flavors followed by menthol flavors.
Across the Middle East, the rules are in constant flux. Currently, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain offer legalized vape, but Qatar and Oman do not. Market intelligence company Mordor Intelligence projects a growth rate of almost 10 percent through 2025 in the regional vapor market.
In late 2020, a Euromonitor International study found only a very small minority of smokers used e-cigarettes to quit smoking in the Middle East region. Analysts found just 1.8 percent of smokers in the region took up alternatives to conventional cigarettes in 2020. The figure is up from 1.4 percent in 2017 but it remains significantly low when compared to other parts of the world.
South America/Latin America
On the other side of the globe, South America’s 433 million people also face an ever-changing landscape of vaping laws. The largest country, Brazil, allows vaping, with some restrictions in enclosed areas. Sales are highly regulated by the Health Surveillance Agency, which closely monitors underage sales, though enforcement of sales and production is weak.
No. 2 by population, Argentina has banned vaping for a decade and shows no sign of changing its policy. The ban extends to nicotine-free products, and there are virtually no sales, production or importation of e-cigarettes. Ironically, Argentina reportedly accounts for as much as 15 percent of total tobacco consumption in South America.
Contrary to some of its neighbors, Peru has been open-minded about vaping—to the point where the government appears to turn a blind eye to the practice. With an estimated 2.3 million smokers—just under 10 percent of the population—Peru has no official numbers on the vapers and vape products. It seems the country has higher priorities and has decided to leave vapers alone.
According to Mordor Intelligence, as enforcement of e-cigarette laws are often open to local authorities, vape shops are often found in places where they are technically illegal in the region. In the entire region only five countries allow the legal sale of e-cigarettes: Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Costa Rica.
Following the recent enactment of smoke-free laws in Paraguay, every South American country has now banned vaping and smoking in most public places. Under Decree No. 4624, approved by Paraguay’s presidency on Dec. 29, consuming lit, heated, or electronic tobacco products is permitted only in uncrowded open air public spaces that are not transit areas for nonsmokers.
Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors and works with vape businesses worldwide. He can be reached at norm@VapeMentors.com
Australian authorities have seized tens of thousands of nicotine vapes illegally being sold in the country over the past 18 months. Between July 2020 and December 2021, the New South Wales Department of Health seized more than 100,000 illegal vaping products, with a street value of more than $2 million.
Since October, Australian vapers have been required to obtain a doctor’s prescription for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and liquids. Doctors are supposed to prescribe the products only as a last resort when more proven quit treatments fail. The law changes were prompted by concerns about the health impacts of vaping, and data showing children are increasingly using the products.
Over the past year, local public health units had been springing convenience stores, petrol stations and tobacconists who were selling vapes to children, enlisting undercover teenagers to attempt to purchase the products, according to news reports.
Consumers who fail to include a nicotine prescription with their order will be subject to a fine of up to $222,000. The new system will work if enough doctors, pharmacists, smokers and vapers are willing to comply and are provided with sufficient information.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has fined four individuals and companies more than AUD170,000 ($122,740) for unlawfully advertising or importing vaping products, reports The Guardian.
Since October, Australian vapers have been required to obtain a doctor’s prescription for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes and liquids. Doctors are supposed to prescribe the products only as a last resort when more proven quit treatments fail. The law changes were prompted by concerns about the health impacts of vaping, and data showing children are increasingly using the products.
In response to the new rules, companies have set up websites offering to link vapers to a health practitioner authorized to prescribe the products. But the law allows only pharmacies and pharmacy-marketing groups to advertise in a limited way. Non-pharmacy websites that advertise vaping products or links to online suppliers are likely to be noncompliant with the nicotine advertising permissions.
The fined companies are Mason Online, RV Global Ecommerce, Vapespot and a Melbourne-based individual.
Maurice Swanson, chief executive of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, said he was pleased with the TGA’s actions.
“We welcome the strong monitoring of illegal advertising which doesn’t meet the guidance provided by the TGA,” he said. “The TGA’s advertising guidelines have been well-known and well-promoted, so companies can’t claim not to have known about it.”
Beginning today, the importation of nicotine e-liquids will be closely monitored by the Australian Border Force. Currently Australians can import nicotine liquid for vaping from overseas or purchase it from a small number of participating pharmacies, provided they have a valid doctor’s prescription.
Credit: Belyay
Consumers who fail to include a nicotine prescription with their order will be subject to a fine of up to $222,000. The new system will work if enough doctors, pharmacists, smokers and vapers are willing to comply and are provided with sufficient information, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The article reports that very few are interested in complying with the rules and most are poorly informed. Little effort has been made to disseminate information about the new arrangements.
More than 2.5 million Australians still smoke. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey estimated that the number of Australians vaping was 240,000 in 2016 and 520,000 in 2019. If the number of Australians vaping is still increasing, as many as 600,000 may be vaping now, according to the article.
At present, only a very small number of people vaping have a prescription as is required. Most nicotine supplies are imported without a prescription or purchased from the black market. If compliance with the new arrangements is poor, then some will return to smoking while others will purchase supplies from the black market. Neither are good outcomes.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is urging Australian vapers to make appointments with their general practitioners to discuss their smoking cessation options ahead of new vaping rules.
Effective Oct. 1, Australian consumers will need a valid prescription to legally obtain nicotine vaping products, such as nicotine e-cigarettes, nicotine pods and liquid nicotine, from an overseas website. A valid prescription is already required to purchase nicotine vaping products from Australian pharmacies.
Purchase of nicotine vaping products from other Australian sources will remain illegal, the TGA said in guidance documents released on Aug. 12.
From Oct. 1, Australian Border Force officials can stop an import at the Australian border and destroy the product if they suspect that it is unlawful and there is not a prescription available.
According to the TGA, the new rules balance the need to prevent adolescents and young adults from taking up nicotine vaping (and potentially smoking) while enabling current smokers to readily access these products for smoking cessation with appropriate medical advice.
While the TGA has not yet registered any nicotine vaping products, the agency says it is working closely with several potential applicant companies.
A study of vaping videos on TikTok by Australian researchers found that there is an “urgent need” for age restrictions to reduce teens’ exposure to videos that positively portray vaping. University of Queensland researchers analysed e-cigarette content posted by TikTok users globally and are now calling for tighter regulations to prevent nicotine products being promoted to underage users of the video-sharing platform.
Credit: Tashatuvango
The study, published in the journal Tobacco Control, evaluated the content of 808 popular vaping videos that had been collectively viewed more than 1.5 billion times as of November 2020. The videos had a median count of 1 million views each, according to a story posted by The Guardian.
The videos that portrayed e-cigarette use positively comprised 63 percent of the total and were viewed more than 1.1 billion times, while neutral depictions accounted for 24 percent. The researchers estimated that a quarter of the people in the videos appeared to be younger than 18, while 71 percent were male.
“The use of comedy, lifestyle references, nicotine addiction references, vaping tricks and ‘how to’ tutorials may create social norms around vaping and increase its social acceptance,” the researchers concluded. “Considering vaping-related videos are widely accessible on TikTok, there is an urgent need to consider age restrictions to reduce youth uptake.”
Tianze Sun, a PhD student at UQ and the study’s first author, said the researchers were interested in looking at how e-cigarette use was portrayed on TikTok, given the app’s popularity among young people. “Because it’s a relatively new platform, they also can potentially lack in regulations when it comes to effective age restrictions,” she said.
Beginning in October, Australian businesses will face fines of up to AUS11 million ($8.2 million) if they are caught selling illegal nicotine vaping products. That’s when a strict new set of safety guidelines from the medicines regulator will come into effect for vaping products that are supplied into Australia and are not registered in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. There are currently no nicotine vaping products in the register.
Credit: Belyay
The move comes as part of an overhaul of the country’s vaping regulations. The rules state Australians must have a prescription before buying e-cigarettes and vaping products online from overseas, according to theSydney Morning Herald.
The new quality rules specify that the products must not contain any active ingredients other than nicotine. They also detail set labelling and packaging rules, including warnings to keep the goods out of reach of children. The rules also ban certain flavoring additives such as cinnamaldehyde, which is used to create a cinnamon flavor, and acetonin, which is used to create a creamy flavor.
A Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) spokesperson said supplying non-compliant products was a criminal offence and could also result in civil penalties and fines “up to 5,000 penalty units for an individual – up to AUS1,110,000 – and 50,000 penalty units for a corporation – up to AUS11,100,000.”
The federal Department of Health held widespread consultation on the new standards, with advocacy group Quit arguing in its feedback that the regulator should be regularly tracking and updating restricted ingredients in line with new evidence about the risks they might pose. “The TGA will revise the list in Schedule 1 to TGO 110 if and when more evidence becomes available showing that other ingredients used in nicotine vaping products carry demonstrable health risks associated with inhalation,” the TGA spokeswoman said.
Excluding the North African countries sometimes included in the Middle East, this part of the world is home to almost 0.5 billion people and encompasses about 20 percent of the Muslim world. While Islam frowns on tobacco use, many Muslim countries have high smoking rates. While tobacco use has been grudgingly tolerated, vaping was initially disdained, with some countries banning the practice. That is changing, as was evidenced in September 2021 when the World Vape Show was held in Dubai, which has now legalized vaping.
On the other side of the globe, South America’s 433 million people also face an ever-changing landscape of vaping laws. The largest country, Brazil, allows vaping, with some restrictions in enclosed areas. Sales are highly regulated by the Health Surveillance Agency, which closely monitors underage sales, though enforcement of sales and production is weak.
