FEATURE
VAPING
DOWN UNDER
By Gordon Stribling
AUSTRALIA’S STRONG ANTI-NICOTINE STANCE IS
DETERRING SMOKERS FROM TRYING TO QUIT
I
n December 2012, Australia became the first country
in the world to enforce plain packaging on all tobacco
products. The move was applauded by the World
Health Organisation.
“The legislation sets a new global standard for the control
of a product that accounts for nearly six million deaths each
year,” said the Australian government at the time.
It took over four years for the UK to follow Australia’s lead.
All other developed nations still trail behind. Plain packaging
is just one example of the country’s firm anti-smoking policy.
On September 1 last year, tobacco excise on cigarettes rose
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by 13% to 70 cents per stick, while excise on other tobacco
products rose 17% from $771.60 to $901.39 per kilogram.
The cost of cigarettes, the impact on smokers’ health and
a general hostility towards tobacco have encouraged
almost three million people in the UK to switch to a safer source
of nicotine. But as nicotine itself is classed as a dangerous
poison in Australia, smokers down under are deprived of what
is unquestionably the most attractive smoking-cessation aid
available today.
According to an analysis by the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare, between 2010 and 2013 the number of smokers