loading
Home   |   News   |  

Convenience Stores Association of Australia calls for changes to Australia's failed e-cigarette regulations

Convenience Stores Association of Australia calls for changes to Australia's failed e-cigarette regulations

2022-08-31

On August 31, according to foreign reports, more than 1.1 million Australian adults chose to use e-cigarettes, and the Australian Convenience Store Association (AACS) called for urgent changes to the current national policy.


Roy Morgan data released by the AACS shows a staggering 260% increase in vaping over the past five years, a trend that has accelerated since the sale of nicotine e-cigarettes was banned.


AACS chief executive Theo Foukkare said Australia's vaping policy had clearly failed.


“Demand for e-cigarettes among adult smokers is overwhelming, but the current policy environment is forcing e-cigarette users to buy unregulated products without quality control from the black market.”


Currently, those wishing to buy vaping products must consult a GP and use that prescription to go to a pharmacy or order products from overseas, a move that could send tens of millions of dollars overseas.


"The government must step in to address the former health minister's regulatory blunders and bring Australia into line with other OECD countries to allow the sale of regulated nicotine e-cigarettes to adults that meet electrical safety and ingredient standards when age is established by responsible retailers product."


Figures from the Australian Convenience Measures, commissioned by the AACS, show that 88 per cent of e-cigarettes are purchased on the black market without a legally required medical prescription.


"Australia is now one of only a few developed countries in the world that does not allow the regulated sale of e-cigarettes through responsible retailers with product standards and mandatory age verification measures."


"This is not an issue that will go away. It will continue to grow. Australian parents and teachers are on the front lines."


"If there are no other options, Australian adults will continue to pay the price and risk their health by buying unregulated products - because no standards exist for the manufacture or supply of e-cigarettes."


With 5.8% of adults now using e-cigarettes, the AACS has called on the Albanian government to convene an urgent national policy summit on e-cigarettes to identify and implement measures to combat the black market in e-cigarettes.


“The Australian government must follow New Zealand, the EU and the UK in making e-cigarettes a regulated and controlled adult consumer product sold by responsible retailers. For decades, convenience stores have been relied upon to sell highly regulated tobacco and petroleum products, So it also gives us the opportunity to help regulate this product.”


Chat Online
Chat Online
Leave Your Message inputting...
Sign in with: