Up in smoke: Australia to ban disposable vape imports from 1 January

• Australia will ban imports of disposable vapes from 1 January to combat the increase in vaping among young people.
  
• The ban is aimed at reversing the trend of vaping becoming a recreational product targeted at children.
• About one in seven children aged 14-17 uses vapes, and young Australians who vape are about three times more likely to take up tobacco smoking.

Australia will ban imports of disposable vapes from 1 January, the government said Tuesday, in a crackdown quickly welcomed by doctors.

The block on single-use vapes is aimed at reversing a "disturbing" increase in vaping among young people, Health Minister Mark Butler said.

Australia first revealed the import ban in May but had not given a start date until now.

Vaping had been sold to governments as a way to help long-term smokers quit, Butler said.

The minister said:

"The great majority of vapes contain nicotine, and children are becoming addicted."

About one in seven children aged 14-17 uses vapes, the government said in a statement.

It cited "consistent evidence" that young Australians who vape are about three times more likely to take up tobacco smoking.

Legislation will also be introduced in 2024 to outlaw the manufacture, advertising or supply of disposable vapes in Australia, the government said.

The import ban was hailed by the Australian Medical Association.

"Australia has been a world leader in reducing smoking rates and the subsequent health harms, so the government's decisive action to stop vaping in its tracks and prevent further harm is very welcome," said the association's president, Steve Robson.

'Dangerous gateway'

The government said it was also introducing a scheme to enable doctors and nurses to prescribe vapes "where clinically appropriate" from 1 January.

Australia has a long record of fighting smoking.

In 2012, it became the first country to introduce "plain packaging" laws for cigarettes - a policy since copied by France, Britain and others.

High taxes have pushed up the price of a packet to about Aus$50 (US$33).

READ | Anti-smoking associations call for more robust interventions to curb underage vaping

Neighbouring New Zealand until recently stood alongside Australia at the forefront of the battle.

But its new conservative coalition government, which took power this week, has now promised to scrap a so-called "generational smoking ban" that would have stopped sales of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

For some people who would otherwise never have smoked, vaping is a "dangerous gateway" to tobacco smoking, said Kim Caudwell, senior lecturer in psychology at Australia's Charles Darwin University.

"So you can understand how, at the population level, increased vaping and a resurgence of tobacco use will impact population health in the future."