General News
25 April, 2023
VicHealth urges ban on sales
VicHealth has put its full weight behind the federal government's push for stronger regulations to protect young people from the dangers of e-cigarettes. “The number of young people using these toxic products continues to grow at an alarming...
VicHealth has put its full weight behind the federal government's push for stronger regulations to protect young people from the dangers of e-cigarettes.
“The number of young people using these toxic products continues to grow at an alarming rate,” CEO Dr Sandro Demaio said. “They have no place on our shop shelves."
VicHealth wants the government to prevent the sale of all e-cigarette products, except by pharmacies to smokers with a prescription, and to stop the importation of all e-cigarette products to anyone other than smokers with a prescription or pharmacy wholesalers.
It says access to nicotine vaping products should only occur under medical supervision via a prescription as a last resort for those who have tried all other methods of quitting smoking.
“We look forward to the findings from the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s review, so we can work together with government towards a solution,” Dr Demaio said.
The TGA recently sought feedback from health professionals and the public on potential reforms to the regulation of nicotine vaping products in Australia.
Over a six-week period, ending in January, it received almost 4000 submissions. These are currently under review. The TGA also carriedout random tests on 296 imported self-declared "non-nicotine" vapes to find that 168 products (57 per cent) actually contained nicotine.