AMA President Professor Steve Robson and AMA NSW President Dr Michael Bonning told a Senate committee hearing young people's health and wellbeing are too important and cannot be jeopardised by the vaping lobby's campaign.
Australia must seize the opportunity to protect the next generation from addiction to vaping and cannot afford to fail our youth, the AMA told a Senate committee hearing this week.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson and AMA NSW President Dr Michael Bonning urged all Senators and MPs to resist the vaping industry's lobbying efforts to derail reforms contained in the Vaping Reforms Bill 2024 that will ban the importation, manufacture, supply, commercial possession, and advertisement of disposable single-use and non-therapeutic vapes.
Professor Robson told a Senate committee inquiring into the Bill that government efforts in 2020 to introduce import bans on vapes had been undermined by a concerted vaping industry lobby campaign.
"The vaping lobby got what it wanted. We come before you today to urge the passage of these reforms to protect the health of all Australians, particularly children," he said.
"We have got an opportunity now to protect the health of the next generation of Australians. We can't afford to let that opportunity go.
"Tobacco companies want to continue to profit from young people getting addicted to vaping through ease of access, misinformation about safety, and sneaky marketing that entices young people to vape through flavouring and packaging.
"The irrefutable statistics show vaping is a gateway for young Australians to smoke cigarettes with strong evidence showing young people who vape are three times more likely to take up smoking."
The government's reforms will support people to stop smoking or vaping by retaining prescription vapes and making them accessible to patients where clinically appropriate through a GP.
Professor Robson said "the government's reforms are world leading and will protect our children from getting hooked on nicotine. Proposals being pursued by some groups, including taxing vapes in the same way as tobacco, entrench nicotine addiction and prioritise revenue raising over our children's health".
