Australian Health Minister Mark Butler announced tough measures to curb vaping on Tuesday, accusing the tobacco industry of wanting to make the next generation of teenagers “addicted to nicotine”. Billed as the country’s biggest anti-smoking reform in a decade, Canberra will ban single-use e-cigarettes, stop imports of over-the-counter versions and restrict the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes.
A long history of tobacco eradication
Australia has long had a proactive tobacco eradication policy and in 2012 became the first country to impose “neutral” cigarette packs, a policy that has since been copied by many countries. Due to high taxes on tobacco sales, Australian cigarettes are among the most expensive in the world, with a pack of 25 selling for around 50 Australian dollars (30 euros).
Mark Butler also announced a tax increase on tobacco sales of 5% per year over the next three years. In recent years, Canberra has struggled to contain the explosion of vaping, particularly among teenagers. “Vaping has become the number one behavioral problem in secondary schools. And it’s spreading through primary schools,” Health Minister Mark Butler said in his speech.
One of the lowest smoking rates in the world
“As with tobacco, the world’s biggest companies in the industry have taken another addictive product, wrapped it in glitzy packaging and added flavorings to create a new generation of nicotine addicts,” a- he said. E-cigarettes will still be allowed, but only on prescription, as a quit smoking aid. “Vaping has been sold to governments and the world as a therapeutic product to help long-time smokers quit,” said Mark Butler. “It was not sold as a recreational product, and especially not for our children,” added the minister.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing, the country has one of the lowest daily smoking rates in the world, but the number of young people under 25 starting to smoke has increased. Andrew Kohn, 31, a Sydney office worker, believes tougher regulation is needed. “You walk past a school at lunchtime and it’s hard not to see a kid smoking,” he remarked. And Ruby Lake, a student in her twenties, claims to have seen some of her friends become addicted to electronic cigarettes. “They want to quit and can’t,” she said.