No chance Australia will follow UK’s ‘swap to stop’ free vape

The UK is set to dish out millions of free vapes to help its smokers quit. But Australia has chosen a totally different direction.

Australian health authorities have declared there is no chance they will follow a “swap to stop” policy, after the UK offered smokers in Britain millions of free vapes to replace cigarettes.

While Australia Health Minister Mark Butler calls vaping a “public health menace”, his UK counterpart Neil O’Brien sees it as the key to reducing the number of smokers.

As announced this week, UK smokers are set to get free vaping kits in exchange for quitting cigarettes under “world-first” new health plans.

Pregnant women who quit smoking will also be rewarded with shopping vouchers, and enforcement squads will punish shops that sell to anyone underage and may ban disposable vapes with ‘jazzy’ colours and flavours.

UK Health Minister Neil O’Brien thinks vaping is the answer to helping Brits kick the smoking habit.

The UK Health Minister said cigarettes are the only product on sale that “will kill you if used correctly”.

“We will be funding a new national ‘swap to stop’ scheme – the first of its kind in the world,” Mr O’Brien said on Tuesday.

The goal is to reduce the number of smokers in England to below 5 per cent by 2030.

UK Health chiefs say vaping and e-cigarettes are significantly safer than tobacco because they don’t produce cancer-causing smoke or tar.

A Norfolk pilot of e-cigarette vouchers for quitters saw four in 10 people on the scheme kick the habit within a month.

But that is a far cry from the message from Australia’s health community.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) opposes vaping, calling for stronger regulation and limiting access to nicotine vaping products. Picture: Tim Hunter

Australia calls for stronger vaping regulation

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) declared its stance on vaping in mid-January, calling for stronger regulation and dispelling their use as a quitting aid.

“Vaping is not harmless, it is not safe, it is not part of tobacco control,” AMA President Professor Stephen Robson said

In its submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the AMA proposed that access to nicotine vaping products should be limited by banning personal importation and reducing the allowed concentration of nicotine.

The AMA also recommended introducing controls on importing vaping products through customs and implementing similar regulations to tobacco products, such as health warnings, plain packaging and tobacco licences.

Prof Robson said Australia was a world leader in tobacco and nicotine control but has “dropped the ball” with vaping.

“We also need a targeted federal response to monitor and act on illegal advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes – particularly online and on social media – and improved enforcement of existing state and territory regulation to help block illegal vape sales both online and through shopfronts,” he said.

The AMA proposed controls on importing vaping products, saying, ‘Vaping is not harmless, it is not safe.’ Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

The TGA has recommended a crackdown on vaping after the medicines regulator received more than 4000 public submissions in response to the Government’s proposed vaping reforms aimed at tackling rising youth vaping rates.

Some submissions came from individuals and retailers who proposed scrapping e-cigarette prescriptions in favour of a model allowing vapes to be sold – and regulated – like cigarettes.

Health Minister Mark Butler has called vaping a “public health menace”. He will consider the TGA’s recommendations along with his state and territory counterparts and has promised to create a “package of reforms” in response.

‘We will not stand for it’

Mr Butler immediately shot down any such notion that Australian would follow the UK’s lead.

“The tobacco industry has found a new way to develop a generation of nicotine addicts, and we will not stand for it,” he said.

Health Minister Mark Butler called vaping a ‘public health menace’. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

“I’m aware the UK has announced a range of different initiatives to reduce smoking and vaping consumption.

“Health ministers are determined to take strong action about the explosion of illegal vaping in Australia and stamp out this menace.”

On the opposite side of the federal chamber, Nationals leader David Littleproud backed a regulation approach.

Conceding the Coalition “failed” to stop children vaping when it was in power, he now pushes the case for relaxing laws around using e-cigarettes.

This week, he argued that a law introduced by former health minister Greg Hunt, which required Australians to get a doctor’s prescription to legally purchase e-cigarettes, had led to an explosion in vapes being sold under the counter, especially to children.

“We’ve got to protect children, we’ve got to protect them quickly and look at the regulatory models that have worked and be big enough to admit when we’ve got it wrong,” he said.

The Nationals leader David Littleproud wants vapes to have similar regulations to traditional tobacco products. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The Nationals – who still accept donations from the tobacco industry – want vapes to be subject to flavouring and packaging restrictions, and an excise similar to the one imposed on conventional tobacco products added.

On Monday, Mr Littleproud pushed back against suggestions the Nationals’ policy would normalise vaping.

“I’m sorry – Mark Butler, and the Albanese Government need to walk the streets,” he said.

“They are normalised already, and sadly they are normalised with children.

“What we are saying is let’s look at what has worked in terms of regulatory guardrails.”

– with The Sun and NCA NewsWire

Originally published as No chance Australia will follow UK’s ‘swap to stop’ free vape