NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said vaping had long been “an issue of concern” and he looked forward to a collaborative discussion about how to tackle its harms at a health ministers’ meeting on Thursday.
“I believe the scientific evidence that vaping is not good for our health,but the challenge is how it can best be managed when many in the community think,erroneously,that it is safe,” Hazzard toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.
Leading tobacco control expert Libby Jardine,chair of Cancer Council’s Tobacco Issues Committee,said youth vaping in Australia was “becoming an epidemic”.
“The federal government needs to do more to stop unlawful nicotine e-cigarette imports at the border,” Jardine said.
Hazzard and former Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley – who resigned on Friday and will be replaced in the portfolio by Mary-Anne Thomas on Monday – have been pushing since last year for a “national approach” to vaping,including strong enforcement by the Australian Border Force.
While enforcing laws against selling vaping devices to children is a state responsibility,the importation ban can only be enforced by the Commonwealth.
Jardine said states and territories need to shut down unlawful retail sales in their jurisdictions.