AUSTRALIA
Greg Hunt, Australia’s health minister, says he will never lift the ban on e-cigarettes despite an ongoing Senate inquiry into their use, going as far as saying, “It’s not going to be happening on my watch as far as I’m concerned.”
The commercial supply of nicotine for use in e-cigarettes has remained prohibited in Australia under state and territory legislation, following the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) decision to not re-schedule nicotine so that it could be purchased in liquid form legally.
Hunt said he had met with the head of TGA and accepted TGA’s point that there is no strong evidence proving that e-cigarettes are a pathway to quitting cigarettes. On the contrary, Hunt said, “There is clear evidence that it’s likely to lead to the uptake of cigarette smoking.”
When asked why he had made this decision before the Senate inquiry reported its findings, Hunt said the parliamentary process was a good way of “dealing with and exposing” the health claims associated with e-cigarettes. “It’s [the tobacco companies] which [are] arguing the case for e-cigarettes and they’re only doing it because it’s in their interests,” he said. “I have a very strong, clear, categorical view that this is not something that should occur in Australia.”