Australia Set to Implement Further Restrictions on E-Cigarette Sales: Crackdown on Flavors and Importation Requires Permit

On March 23rd, it was reported that further restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes will soon be implemented nationwide in Australia, following promises to eliminate public health threats. The latest recommendations from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) include banning e-cigarette flavors, placing warning labels on individual product packaging, and requiring importers to have a permit to bring e-cigarettes into the country.

Last year, testing conducted by the National Health and Medical Research Council found that e-cigarettes may contain hundreds of dangerous chemicals also found in cleaning products, nail polish remover, herbicides, and insecticides.

Health Minister Mark Butler stated on Thursday that all of the country’s health ministers, including Labor, Liberal, state and territory, and federal, are determined to eradicate this public health threat. He added that these recommendations will provide a range of options for future reform considerations, from border controls to the way these things are sold, banning flavors and colors.

Most state and territory governments support a new measure that will require anyone importing e-cigarettes to hold a permit, making it easier for border forces to confiscate products. Warning statements, drug-like packaging, flavor restrictions, and nicotine content restrictions are also strongly supported.

However, advocates of e-cigarettes strongly oppose further restrictions from the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, arguing that e-cigarettes remain an important tool for helping smokers quit.

The TGA has refuted these claims, and their recommendations have been praised by many public health associations, healthcare professionals, university researchers, and Australian pharmacies. Professor Steve Robson, President of the Australian Medical Association, stated that the government needs to consider implementing new reforms as soon as possible.

” The Australian government now needs to take action to enforce existing laws, ban the illegal sale of non-prescription e-cigarettes, and strengthen import controls for all nicotine and non-nicotine e-cigarette products,” he told The Guardian.

Despite Australia continuing to adopt a prescription-based approach in 2021, a thriving black market continues to provide nicotine for young people. The TGA has rejected the views of 4,000 public opinion letters, including retailers, to cancel the prescription model, stating that changes in the regulatory framework are beyond its scope.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the problem with e-cigarettes is that they are often illegally sold.

“The only legal way to sell nicotine e-cigarettes in Australia is through a prescription from a doctor to a pharmacy,” he said.

“However, convenience stores and gas stations often sell nicotine e-cigarettes pretending not to contain nicotine, and even more insidiously, selling them to children.”

He also expressed concern that e-cigarettes provide a way back to smoking.

“We’ve taken all the steps over the last few decades to reduce smoking rates, and this is a way back to smoking. We are determined to ensure that we do not create a new generation of nicotine addicts.”