The AMA has supported major overhauls to Australia's vaping regulations in a submission to the TGA.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA) proposed reforms will see all vapes regulated through the same instruments whether they contain nicotine or not. All vapes will require a prescription, ending retail vaping in Australia.
The AMA welcomed the broadening of the reforms to include all vaping products which was a key recommendation of the AMA's submission to the TGA consultation on nicotine vaping products in January.
The reforms include many long-standing AMA proposals, including reducing the concentration limit allowed under regulations from 100mg/ml to 20mg/ml, introducing limits on the flavours and volume of nicotine that can be prescribed or ordered, and ending the personal importation scheme.
The AMA has supported other amendments, such as allowing all GPs to prescribe through the Special Access Scheme C system which will require a notification after the prescription has been written. The submission also supports pre-market notification compliance for all vapes dispensed in Australia. Ideally, vaping products will be added to the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods eventually, but these serve as practical interim solutions.
The AMA also welcomed the proposed reforms for further restrictions to vape advertisements.
Last month the AMA and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH) gave Meta the inaugural Exploding Vape Award for failing to enforce its own policy which bans the promotion of tobacco or nicotine products on its platforms. Meanwhile, the marketing and sale of vapes is proliferating on its platforms.
The AMA's support for the reforms is based on the evidence which has found people who vape are three times more likely to smoke than people who have never vaped (resulting in children and young people becoming addicted) and that former smokers who vape are more likely to relapse. The result is smoking rates for 14-17 year-olds in Australia is trending upwards. There remains limited evidence of the efficacy of vaping as a smoking cessation tool.
