Respiratory professional groups including the Lung Foundation and TSANZ have welcomed a decision by the TGA to ensure that e-cigarettes and vaping fluids containing nicotine are only available on prescription.
The Lung Foundation Australia said that when implemented after April 2021, the decision will close loopholes that have been exploited by the tobacco and vaping industries to import products containing unknown but addictive ingredients that are often promoted to younger Australians.
Lung Foundation Australia CEO Mark Brooke said the makers of e-cigarettes had never applied to the TGA to have e-cigarettes available to Australians as smoking cessation devices, because they lacked evidence of efficacy and safety.
“Instead [they] seek to have their highly addictive product approved for sale to the general population. This is a well-known business model, not a health model.”
The decision ensures that liquid nicotine may only be imported through a medical practitioner, in exceptional circumstances, for short term use to help end a tobacco and nicotine addiction, the Lung Foundation noted.
“We acknowledge the extreme difficulties people face when attempting to end nicotine addiction and we believe this decision upholds the health and dignity of the individual and protects the broader community from the harms of tobacco and nicotine addiction. In saying this, we have concerns about how this system will be implemented and welcome the TGA’s advice to allow some time for the development of professional standards and clinical guidelines to guide decision making by medical practitioners,” said Mr Brooke.
TSANZ president Professor Bruce Thompson said the focus should remain on evidence-based policies for smoking cessation, and this could include an ongoing review of long term impacts of e-cigarettes and whether they do help with quitting.
“The government needs to focus on what we know works and invest in hard-hitting mass media campaigns and QUIT services that support people to break their nicotine addiction,” he said.
“We cannot have a regulatory framework that exposes a new generation to a nicotine addiction as we see happening in New Zealand and Canada.”
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said the move was a victory for lung health over the predatory business practices of the tobacco industry
“The effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a cessation aid has not been proven, and this debate in the community is being pushed by Big Tobacco, whose whole business model is based on keeping people addicted to nicotine,” he said.
“We’re certainly seeing international evidence about e-cigarettes being a pathway into smoking.
“Australia is a world leader in reducing smoking harm. We need to keep it that way.”