Tag: Australia

Even plainer packaging
Photo by Michael 1952
Australia’s Federal Health Department has said it will not be taking any action against Imperial Tobacco for breaching Australia’s standardized packaging legislation, according to a story by Lachlan Thompson for the Ipswich Queensland Times.
The department has instead chosen to take what it calls a ‘conciliatory’ approach.
In July, Thompson revealed that Imperial was selling packs of 20 Peter Stuyvesant cigarettes with a lift-out soft pack inside the ugly, olive boxes mandated by the government.
Imperial said at the time the packaging was intended to ensure the cigarettes were ‘fresh’ – not a deliberate attempt to enable smokers to carry around a more aesthetically pleasing pack of cigarettes.
On Monday, the Department revealed, for the first time, that it had been aware of what the tobacco company was doing since late February 2016.
The Health Department’s deputy secretary, Wendy Southern, said the department had engaged with the manufacturer through correspondence and the company had undertaken to remove the product from the market.
Thompson wrote that under the Plain Packaging Act the Commonwealth was able ‘to pursue tobacco companies for small fines in the first instance then civil penalties – which can amount to millions of dollars and finally criminal prosecution – if companies wilfully break the laws’.
In the past three financial years there had been 135 breaches of plain packaging legislation, he wrote.
March 7, 2017
Nicotine ban ‘unethical’
Photo by Vaping360
A group of leading health experts has called the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) recent interim decision effectively to ban nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes ‘unethical’ and ‘unscientific’, according to a story by Chloe Booker for the Sydney Morning Herald.
The group says the TGA has exaggerated the dangers of electronic cigarettes while ignoring their ‘substantial health benefits’.
The group of 16 academics, researchers and doctors supported an application to the TGA to allow the use of nicotine at concentrations of 3.6 percent or less in electronic cigarettes as a tobacco harm reduction measure.
However, the TGA made an interim decision in February to continue its ban on nicotine for use in electronic cigarettes. It is due to make a final decision on March 23.
In response, the group has made a submission calling the ban ‘unethical’ and ‘unscientific’.
It has pointed out what it believes are ‘fundamental flaws’ in the TGA’s reasoning, which they say is not supported by evidence or overseas experience.
A major concern for the TGA is that electronic cigarettes could provide a gateway for young people to take up smoking, but the group says this is ‘unjustified and overblown’ as overseas experience shows the opposite – that young people are vaping instead.
The group pointed to 2014 research that estimated six million Europeans had quit smoking by using electronic cigarettes and a review that had found vaping was at least 95 percent safer than smoking.
Ideology was behind the ban and why Australia’s most prominent health organisations, such as the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation, supported it, University of New South Wales Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn said.
“It’s political, it’s emotional, it’s ideological – it’s ‘we’ve always done it this way’,” he said.
“They are finding little problems in the research and are basically throwing smokers under the bus.”
March 6, 2017
E-cigs a ‘no-brainer’
Photo by peretzpup
The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) recent interim decision to effectively ban nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes could potentially cost millions of people more than A$6,000 a year – and it’s the poor who will be the hardest hit, according to a story by Joe Hilderbrand for news.com.au.
Tobacco Treatment Specialist Dr. Colin Mendelsohn of the University of New South Wales’ School of Public Health was said to have calculated that a smoker on 20 cigarettes a day spent $7,300 a year on cigarettes – with that amount increasing by 12.5 percent each year as a result of tobacco tax hikes.
By contrast, Mendelsohn assessed that the typical cost of vaping using nicotine electronic cigarettes would be $1,150 per year – representing an annual saving of $6,150 for every smoker who switched.
Meanwhile, studies had found that vaping was 95 percent safer than smoking.
“So vaping is at least 85 percent less expensive than smoking and 95 percent safer, Mendelsohn was quoted as saying. “You will be richer and healthier if you make the switch to vaping. To me, that’s a no brainer.”
The revelation about the cost savings potentially available to vapers comes as a new study has found that financially stressed smokers are often going without meals rather than cigarettes and that the more smokers are driven into poverty the less likely they are to quit.
There are about 2.6 million daily smokers in Australia, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures – almost 15 percent of the adult population. And they are overwhelmingly concentrated in poorer areas.
Hildebrand’s story is at: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/decision-could-cost-millions-of-australians-6000-a-year/news-story/aee8a80a977219665fd73315f42c5112.
March 2, 2017
‘Horrifying’ experiments
Activists in Australia working on behalf of non-human animals have reacted with horror to a scientific-journal image showing a mouse being squeezed into a small plastic chamber to inhale cigarette smoke, according to a story by Nelson Groom for Daily Mail Australia. [The picture is similar to the one shown alongside this report.]
The photograph depicts research being carried out by scientists at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales to contribute to research into respiratory diseases.
In one of the experiments, the mice were put into the smoking chamber for up to 45 minutes, twice a day for five days a week, for up to 12 weeks.
Humane Research Australia (HRA) spokesperson Robyn Kirby told Daily Mail Australia she was shocked to see this research was still being funded in 2017.
‘It’s horrifying,” she said. “We see some pretty awful research, but this image shocked us.”
She said the HRA had hoped that forcing mice to smoke would be a thing of the past, and that the organization was pursuing the matter.
March 1, 2017
Where contraband costs more
Maximum security prisoners are paying more than A$20 for a single rolled cigarette in a black-market trade that has emerged following the imposition of a tobacco-smoke-free policy in prisons in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), according to a story by Dan Proudman for the Newcastle Herald.
Such a black-market operation was said to have been uncovered at Cessnock jail on Monday when 15 tobacco pouches, 10 packs of rolling papers and other contraband were discovered inside a garbage bin.
Corrective Services NSW said each of the pouches, the contents of which could be used to make 50-65 rolled cigarettes, could be sold for $300 inside the minimum-security wings of the prison.
But the Herald was said to understand that the same pouches were being smuggled into the maximum-security sections for up to $800 each.
The pouches can be bought over the counter at supermarkets for between A$30 and A$70.
Tobacco has quickly become the contraband of choice within many jails, including Cessnock, since the prisons became smoke free in August 2015.
In the past year, 223 visitors have been banned from jails for trafficking tobacco.
February 22, 2017
iQOS hurdle in Australia
Philip Morris International is unlikely to get permission to sell its iQOS heated tobacco device in Australia under current regulations, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald relayed by the TMA and quoting the assistant health minister, David Gillespie.
Gillespie said that the commercial supply of nicotine was effectively prohibited in Australia via state and territory poisons legislation, with some exceptions, such as for tobacco prepared and packed for smoking, and certain nicotine replacement therapies.
He was quoted as saying that these exemptions would be unlikely to apply to heat-not-burn products because ‘the nicotine in them would not be in the form of tobacco prepared and packed for smoking’.
The story said that the recent decision by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration to retain nicotine on its poisons list, effectively banning eVapor products containing nicotine, also complicated PMI’s plans.
Despite the TGA having no direct role in making rules about heat-not burn products, Gillespie said that “further consideration of policy options to address heat-not-burn products may be considered in the context of a national response to e-cigarettes”.
Meanwhile, Tony Snyder, PMI’s vice president of communications, said that iQOS was for adult smokers “looking for product choices that offer the satisfying taste, ritual, and pleasure they get from cigarettes, but with far lower amounts of the harmful compounds found in smoke”.
February 17, 2017
E-cig ban a harsh blow
The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) recent interim decision to effectively ban nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes has been described by Dr. Colin Mendelsohn, a tobacco treatment specialist who teaches at the University of Sydney, as a harsh blow to smokers.
Writing on theconversation.com, Mendelsohn said Australian smokers would be denied access to life-saving technology that was estimated to have helped millions of overseas smokers quit.
Those most affected would be from lower socio-economic and disadvantaged groups, which had the highest smoking rates and were hardest hit by the cost of smoking.
‘Currently, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are effectively prohibited in Australia,’ Mendelsohn wrote. ‘If the TGA’s interim decision is made final in March 2017, e-cigarette users (or vapers) in Australia will still not be able to buy or import nicotine for vaping without a prescription. Their only legal option would be to ask their doctor for a prescription, which doctors are generally reluctant to provide.
‘If the current ban remains, vapers will still be forced to source nicotine solutions (e-liquids) from an unregulated and illegal black market, placing them at even greater risk. Without regulation, the contents of nicotine refill bottles are a mystery, labels are inaccurate, childproof bottles are not mandated and there is no quality control or manufacturing standard.
‘Other users will buy large quantities of highly concentrated nicotine online and mix their e-liquid at home, with the risk of exposure to children and dosage errors.
‘Meanwhile, vapers who try to quit smoking are branded criminals. The fine for possessing nicotine for vaping in Queensland is up to A$9,108 and the government encourages the public to report any offenders. This fear will lead some vapers to return to smoking.
‘The TGA’s decision also leaves Australia out of step with other similar countries. E-cigarettes with nicotine are legal and available, or are in the process of being legalised, in the United Kingdom, European Union, United States, Canada and New Zealand.
‘Their approach to smoking cessation products is in sharp contrast to policy in Australia, which has missed the opportunity to welcome e-cigarettes as a harm reduction tool, and a safer alternative, for smokers. Meanwhile, the most lethal nicotine products, cigarettes, are freely available in Australia and do not need TGA approval.’
Mendelsohn’s full text is here.
February 15, 2017
JTI calls for transparency on plain-packaging report
The Australian government has not yet published its Post-Implementation Review (PIR) regarding plain-packaging six months after the conclusion of the consultation period.
This delay in publishing has raised concerns about the integrity of the report and caused concerns that its authors could be misrepresenting data or omitting evidence in order to ensure the country’s plain-packaging policy is viewed as a success.
Plain packaging was introduced in Australia in 2012 with an end goal of reducing the nation’s smoking rates. According to the Australian government, the objectives of the plain packaging measure are to reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products to consumers; increase the noticeability and effectiveness of mandated health warnings; reduce the ability of the retail packaging of tobacco products to mislead consumers about the harms of smoking; and to ultimately reduce smoking rates.
In the three years since plain packaging was introduced in Australia, no change to the decline in smoking rates has been shown, according to the latest official data from the Australian government. Without evidence of a decline in smoking rates, supporters of plain packaging are finding it difficult to claim the measures have achieved their goals.
“The Department of Health [DoH] knows that this policy has failed,” said Michiel Reerink, Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) regulatory strategy vice president. “The objective of the ban on brands was to improve public health by discouraging people from using tobacco products, and reducing their exposure to tobacco smoke. The government’s own data shows that these objectives have not been met.”
The DoH began its review of Australia’s plain packaging earlier this year, at which time it requested information detailing the impact the policy has had since its implementation. The consultation period ended in March. Although government guidelines suggest that PIRs should be published within three to six months after information is gathered, the Australian government has yet to publish this information.
“Tobacco control lobbyists are traveling around the world on taxpayers’ money to convince regulators that plain packaging has been a success in Australia,” said Reerink. “But anyone who looks at the official data can see for themselves: There is no proof that this ban on brands has worked.”
JTI has called for transparency from the Australian government regarding publication of the PIR.
“We urge the Department of Health to publish a complete and transparent review of this policy, without further delay,” says Reerink. “The PIR should be based on all of the evidence, in line with the requirements of the Australian Government’s Office of Best Practice Regulation. Crucially, the results of the plain packaging policy should be measured against its original objectives. Without this report being published soon, people risk being misled by biased reports and analysis on a measure that has done nothing to improve public health.”
October 6, 2015
Ukraine drops plain-packaging lawsuit against Australia
Ukraine has suspended the legal proceedings it brought against Australia through the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012, which claimed the country’s plain-packaging laws were trade-restrictive. Instead, the Eastern European nation—which received financial support from British American Tobacco to pursue litigation—has stated it will attempt to seek a mutually agreed-upon solution with Australia to resolve the issue.
Ukraine was the first of five countries to challenge Australia’s plain-packaging laws at the WTO, despite the fact that Ukraine does not currently export tobacco to Australia. The other countries who have launched lawsuits against Australia—Indonesia, Cuba, Honduras and the Dominican Republic—have not announced any plans to drop their lawsuits challenging the strict packaging laws banning company logos and requiring cigarettes to be sold in olive-colored packages with brand names printed in standardized fonts.
According to WTO rules, Ukraine’s suspension could last one year, after which time its right to return to the panel proceedings will lapse. The WTO adjudication panel is expected to rule on the remaining plain-packaging lawsuits in the first half of 2016.
June 4, 2015
Aussies to jack up tobacco tax in 2014
The price of a pack of cigarettes will rise by about $0.07 next year in Australia, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
The increase will see the government face a potential re-election tussle with tobacco companies and retailers, who are still smarting over plain packaging laws.
Cigarettes were the only sin tax targeted by Treasurer Wayne Swan’s big-cutting budget. Last year’s budget saw an increase on taxes on beer and cut the number of duty-free cigarettes Australians could bring home after travelling overseas.
The duty free cuts last year were set to raise $175 million by 2015.
A pack of 25 cigarettes will be $0.07 more expensive from the first half of 2014, after a change in indexation that sees tobacco excise keep pace with salary rises. Budget papers did not reveal how much this would raise.
May 14, 2013