Dr Kathryn Barnsley, of SmokeFree Tasmania, says vaping crackdown welcome – but there’s a catch

A leading anti-smoking campaigner has praised the federal government for its proposed vaping crackdown – but she says there could be unintended consequences.

Dr Kathryn Barnsley Picture: Linda Higginson

The federal government’s decision to ban the sale of non-prescription vapes could see more children take up cigarettes and must be coupled with further action to clamp down on the supply of tobacco across the country, an anti-smoking campaigner says.

Health Minister Mark Butler announced last week that the government would move to prohibit the importation of non-prescription e-cigarettes and ban all single-use, disposable vapes, in an effort to stamp out an exploding black market.

Restrictions on flavours, colours and nicotine concentrations and volumes would also be introduced under the proposed changes, as well as “pharmaceutical-like packaging”.

SmokeFree Tasmania co-convener, Dr Kathryn Barnsley, said the crackdown was a welcome one but the government needed to adopt a two-pronged approach in order to ensure children did not start smoking conventional cigarettes instead.

Dr Kathryn Barnsley. Picture: Linda Higginson

“The target for e-cigarettes is children and adolescents, which is why they have flavours and bright colours and attractive packaging,” she said.

“These young people can become addicted very quickly. It is important as part of the national and Tasmanian tobacco strategies to attack supply of both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes, because otherwise these children will start smoking.”

Dr Barnsley said the Tasmanian government should outlaw the sale of tobacco products to people born after the year 2006 and that a national focus on the “content and engineering” of cigarettes was needed, including the removal of all flavours and the elimination of filter ventilation, which she said caused cancers and “gives a false sense that cigarettes are less harmful”.

Tasmania has the second-highest smoking rates in the country, behind only the Northern Territory. Approximately 70,000 people smoke across the state and 500 die from smoking-related diseases each year.

Former independent MLC and senior police officer, Ivan Dean, introduced a bill in the state’s Legislative Council in 2021 to increase Tasmania’s minimum legal sales age for e-cigarettes and tobacco to 21. It was comprehensively defeated, 12 votes to 3.

Mr Dean said the Albanese government’s hardened stance on vaping would “make a difference” but it needed to take further action.

“Vaping leads to smoking. The evidence is stark, the evidence is there,” he said.

“[Vaping] is going to create mayhem unless we go further. We’ve got to go further. We’ve just got to stop this. It’s going to create mayhem for the young generation.”

Quit Tasmania Director Abby Smith and a Quitline Counsellor Brad Garth- Smith. Picture: Chris Kidd

Quit Tasmania last week launched a new TV advertising campaign, urging smokers to listen to the early warning signs of smoking-related health issues, including the so-called smoker’s cough, breathlessness and wheezing.

Quit Tasmania director Abby Smith said there was a “vaping epidemic” emerging in schools across the island and “something needed to be done about it”.

“The research is showing that nonsmokers who start vaping are three times as likely to go onto smoking tobacco,” she said.

“With the current announcement around the ban to the importation and sale of non-prescription e-cigarettes, we know that that’s going to stop the tsunami of supply of e-cigarettes.

“But we would encourage that that should be coupled with things like mass media campaigns.”

Originally published as Dr Kathryn Barnsley, of SmokeFree Tasmania, says vaping crackdown welcome – but there’s a catch