British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week declared England would follow New Zealand’s path on tobacco control and in effect ban cigarettes for the next generation. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler – who has been talking for months about making the country a world leader in tobacco control again – says he will closely monitor...
Data from Australian Secondary School Students Alcohol and Drug Survey predates ‘huge’ increase in vaping E-cigarette use is the single strongest risk factor for adolescents taking up tobacco smoking, outranking social norms, poor mental health and misperceptions about smoking harms, research published on Wednesday has found. The findings come from 4,266 Victorian students aged 12 to...
The Australian government will ban e-cigarettes through a heavy set of controls on imports and packaging to discourage vaping, especially among teens, under its biggest smoking reforms in more than a decade. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said vaping has become a top behavioral issue in high schools and a growing problem in elementary schools...
Submissions to the TGA include comments from 13-19-year-olds who want restrictions in place to help them with nicotine addiction Teenagers have urged the Australian government to help them break their nicotine addiction, submissions to a major consultation on vaping reforms reveal. A submission to drug regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration from South Australia’s commissioner for children...
Known links to tobacco multinationals and vaping lobby groups omitted in submissions to federal government consultation on reform. Organisations and executives with known links to big tobacco and vaping companies have failed to declare them in submissions to a major government consultation on vaping reforms aimed at protecting children from nicotine addiction. The submission of the...
As the TGA considers at least 4,000 submissions, tobacco companies appear to be heightening lobbying efforts An international pro-vaping group, supported by British American Tobacco, has hired an Australian lobbyist amid proposed government reforms that could see tightened access to nicotine vaping products. In February, Michael Kauter – a former deputy director of the Nationals and...
Australia’s efforts to reduce smoking rates have been world leading, but renewed attention to tobacco control is urgently needed, writes Associate Professor Michelle Jongenelis. Australia’s efforts to reduce smoking rates have been world leading. Ongoing increases in tobacco excise, smoke-free laws, mass media campaigns, the prohibition of tobacco advertising, and tobacco product plain packaging are all...
Up to 9bn plastic cigarette butts are discarded and washed into waterways in Australia each year Almost two years after the former Coalition government declared “war on cigarette butts”, a promised taskforce to reduce pollution still hasn’t been established. Up to 9bn plastic cigarette butts are discarded and washed into waterways in Australia each year, according to the...
E-cigarettes – commonly called “vapes” – and the companies behind them continue to present challenges to public health in Australia, according to public health experts. In a new study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, experts working in tobacco control, including researchers, public health intervention developers, public servants, and health practitioners were...
Tobacco companies could be forced to clean up cigarette butts left by smokers in South Australia as the Greens party propose a nation-first litter law. The legislation currently being drafted by the party proposes huge fines if cigarette manufacturers refuse to clean up discarded butts left in public places. According to the Greens party, tobacco litter clean-up costs Australians $73...
