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    * [13]Future of Health (BUTTON)

  4 minute readMay 2, 202310:56 AM UTCLast Updated ago

Australia to ban recreational vaping in e-cigarette crackdown

  By [14]Renju Jose (BUTTON)
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  SYDNEY, May 2 (Reuters) - Australia said on Tuesday it will ban
  recreational vaping and tighten other aspects of e-cigarette laws in
  the biggest crackdown on the tobacco industry in more than a decade to
  try to stop an alarming rise in teenage vaping.

  The government aims to ban all disposable vapes, which often comes in
  fruity flavours, ban the import of non-prescription vapes and limit
  nicotine levels, aiming for the sale of vapes to be confined to helping
  smokers quit.

  "Just like they did with smoking, Big Tobacco has taken another
  addictive product, wrapped it in shiny packaging and added flavours to
  create a new generation of nicotine addicts," Health Minister Mark
  Butler said in a speech at the National Press Club.

  Vaping, widely seen as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes and
  useful for helping smokers quit, involves heating a liquid that
  contains nicotine in what is called an e-cigarette and turning it into
  a vapour that users inhale.

  But studies have shown the potential of long-term harm from the
  addictive e-cigarettes.

  Under the new rules, vapes will be sold only in pharmacies and require
  "pharmaceutical-type" packaging. Disposable vapes popular with young
  people will also be banned.

  Though a prescription is needed to buy nicotine vapes in Australia, lax
  border enforcement and a thriving illegal market mean they are readily
  available in convenience stores and other outlets.

  Major vape manufacturer Philip Morris [15](PM.N) welcomed the crackdown
  on such shops.

  "Nicotine vaping products sold in corner stores have always been
  illegal," a spokesperson for the company said.

  "We have been urging enforcement against these illegal products for
  several years and hope this will now happen."

  Butler said vaping had become a recreational product in Australia,
  mostly sold to teenagers and young people, who are three times as
  likely to take up smoking.
  Saleswoman holds e-cigarette at Vape Shop in Beijing
  A saleswoman holds an e-cigarette as she demonstrates vaping at the
  Vape Shop that sells e-cigarette products in Beijing, China January 30,
  2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

  "This is a product targeted at our kids, sold alongside lollies and
  chocolate bars," Butler said. "Vaping has now become the number one
  behavioural issue in high schools. And it's becoming widespread in
  primary schools as well."

TOUGH ON SMOKING

  Doctors backed the vaping crackdown but urged the government to do more
  to limit the number of young people taking it up.

  "Nicotine vaping products are being sold featuring colourful flavours
  and we have even seen products featuring the same type of imagery as
  children's breakfast cereal including cartoon characters," said Nicole
  Higgins, president of the Royal Australian College of General
  Practitioners.

  About 22% of Australians aged 18-24 have used an e-cigarette or vaping
  device at least once, data last year showed.

  The federal budget, due out next week, will include A$234 million ($155
  million) for measures to protect against the harm caused by tobacco and
  vaping.

  Australia has one of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world.

  In 2012, it became the first country to force cigarette producers to
  abandon distinct, colourful branding and sell their products in
  uniformly drab packets.

  Tobacco firms were quick to switch to e-cigarettes that offer different
  flavours and created designs targeting a new generation of users.

  Butler said the government had no plan to follow neighbouring New
  Zealand in banning cigarette sales for [16]future generations but said
  the tax on tobacco would be raised by 5% a year over the next three
  years in a bid to curb sales.

  [17]Some countries have tried to restrict vaping and some see it as a
  good way to get smokers to kick the habit.

  Britain said in April up to one million smokers would be encouraged to
  [18]swap cigarettes for vapes, in what was a world first, offering
  financial incentives for pregnant women and providing e-cigarette
  starter kits to help.
  Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul
  (BUTTON)
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  Our Standards: [19]The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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