E-cigarettes should be banned, not promoted by government

E-cigarettes are not safe.

E-cigarettes containing nicotine are not legal in Australia. E-cigarettes without nicotine are legal, but many of them have incorrect labelling and DO contain nicotine (ask the DHHS enforcement officials!).

I have just discovered that the ACCC has launched prosecutions against three companies for telling lies about the content of e-cigarettes ( ABC: Vaping tests reveal cancer-causing ingredients in e-cigarettes, ACCC alleges ), and because the products contained carcinogens ( ACCC takes action against the Joystick company for alleged misleading e-cigarette “no toxic chemicals” claims ).

We strongly support banning the sale of ALL e-cigarettes to both children and adults1.

Tobacco is the most serious problem, the number one killer of Tasmanians. Adolescents born in the year 2000 turn 18 next year so it is time the government legislated to save the next generation from the lethal effects of all forms of tobacco. See the Tobacco Free Generation information on our website2.

Why is government encouraging people to put rubbish in their lungs, when we have just heard that 40,000 people a year die in the UK from air pollution?3 Launceston has always had problems with air pollution and asthma4. There is no good reason to add to this burden on the Launceston General Hospital and the community. Nor should any other hospital in Tasmania be forced to deal with increasing respiratory illness admissions.

More research is needed on e-cigarettes and the laws should make provision for accredited university researchers to conduct research in Tasmania using e-cigarettes containing nicotine. We know how hard it is for researchers to work on medical marijuana, it is difficult to do research on an illegal drug, therefore there should be exemptions for qualified researchers who have gained ethics approval.

Information disclosure of volumes of tobacco and e-cigarette sales by each outlet is essential and should be made available to the public, not just internal secret government agencies.

We strongly support banning vaping or the use of any e-cigarette devices in public areas in cars with children and outside bars and restaurants.

Tobacco manufacturers and marketers are developing new devices all the time so the definition in the law should be very wide, so that newer products such as those that merely “heat the product” will be banned.

Some e-cigarettes that claim to not have nicotine (but are unregulated and untested – so who knows what is in them) are fruit and sugar flavoured and clearly aimed at children.

The government claims that a ban on e-cigarettes would criminalise vapers. This is disingenuous nonsense. The government can draft the legislation so that it does not criminalise users, unless they are vaping in public areas, in the same way that the current Tobacco Free Generation Bill before the Parliament does not criminalize smokers when a ban on sales to persons born after the year 2000 is implemented5.

The government also claims that banning e-cigarettes in one state might breach “mutual obligation“ provisions. Nonsense again. Tasmania and South Australia banned flavoured cigarettes long before other states got around to legislating. Mutual obligation provisions are not a barrier to this type of reform.

The government claims to want to balance the “rights” of retailers and the health of Tasmanians. Again a nonsense. Firstly, if people do not spend on tobacco products or e-cigarettes they will spend on other items. Secondly, the rights of retailers to sell addictive poisons to the public are a dubious “right”. Retailers can sell plenty of other products without the need to kill their fellow Tasmanians. One responsible retailer wrote to the Legislative Council saying exactly that. She no longer wanted to harm members of her community6.

Recommendations7

Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foundation of Australia8 recommend the following public policy measures be considered to assist in protecting young Australians from the potential harms of widespread electronic cigarette use:

1. Ban the retail sale of non-nicotine electronic cigarettes (unless the product has been approved by the TGA). It is currently unlawful to sell electronic cigarettes that contain nicotine in any form. This is because nicotine is a scheduled poison and can only be lawfully sold in the form of legal tobacco products (a historical anomaly) and approved nicotine replacement products. This position could change in the future for individual nicotine electronic cigarette products that receive approval from the TGA.

Similar restrictions should also apply to non-nicotine electronic cigarettes, which come in a variety of fruit, confectionery and other flavours that appeal to children. Laws in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland prohibit the sale of products that resemble tobacco products. There are no such laws in other states and territories, meaning that non-nicotine electronic cigarettes (when marketed without therapeutic claims) can be lawfully sold, including to young people.

2. Ensuring smoke-free laws in each state and territory cover electronic cigarette use. The purchase, possession or use of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine is currently unlawful under state and territory poisons and public health laws. However, these laws are complicated and difficult to enforce. Prohibiting use of all electronic cigarettes under smoke-free laws would make the law clear for the community and ensure that both nicotine and non-nicotine electronic cigarettes are not used in places where smoking tobacco is prohibited.

3. Prohibiting advertising and promotion of electronic cigarettes, consistent with tobacco advertising prohibitions. Electronic cigarettes are being aggressively promoted, with young people and children clearly identified as a target market. Electronic cigarette advertising should be subject to similar restrictions as tobacco products.

Links to references …

1. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-09/e-cigarette-crackdown-not-enough-smokefree-tas-says/8169134
2. http://www.smokefreetasmania.com/faq-2/
3. http://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000063.short
4. http://www.smokefreetasmania.com/e-cigarettes/
5. http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/bills/pdf/40_of_2014.pdf
6. http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/ctee/Council/Submissions/GAA%20TFG/No.%205%20-%20Lois%20Ireland%20submission.pdf
7. http://www.quit.org.au/resource-centre/policy-advocacy/policy/e-cigarettes1
8. http://wiki.cancer.org.au/policy/Position_statement_-_Electronic_cigarettes

*Kathryn Barnsley is a researcher, advocate and writer on tobacco control and public health policy making. She was formerly a member of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Tobacco, is a policy advisor to SmokeFree Tasmania, and was responsible for the development of the Public Health Act 1997, the Food Act 1998 and other tobacco and health legislation. She is assisting Hon Ivan Dean MLC in the passage of the Public Health Amendment (Tobaccofree Generation) Bill 2014. Dr. Barnsley’s publications can be found online through Google Scholar or any academic search engine. See http://eprints.utas.edu.au/22996/