Timeline:
5 June 2024:
Community Affairs Legislation Committee
Questions of Vaping prevelence to NHMRC
Senator URQUHART: I have some questions around vaping. What are the current statistics on how many people vape?
Ms Goodchild: The last vaping prevalence statistics for the whole population for the use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices were for 2022: the daily use of vapes for adults aged 18 and over was 598,100 people, or three per cent. 'Current use' of vapes for adults and 'ever used a vape' was much higher, at 13.4 per cent. Do you want me to continue?
Senator URQUHART: And the younger ages, as well.
Ms Goodchild: There are a number of studies. For the vaping prevalence for young people we used the secondary students, aged 12 to 17, study. We have had quite a large increase. Originally when we looked, in 2014, it was 2.6 per cent. In 2022-23 it was 12.9 per cent. The number of those who have 'ever used or tried it' has climbed to 24.3 per cent. For secondary students aged 16 to 17 it has climbed from 4.9 per cent to 22.1 per cent, and 'ever used or tried it' is sitting at 42.9 per cent.
Senator URQUHART: They are scary figures. Can you talk to me about the current regulations around vapes? On 1 March, some changes came in about the cessation of personal importation and other things. What are those current regulations?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: The first stage of the vaping reforms involved the imposition of import controls on disposable vapes, non-therapeutic vapes and closure of the personal importation scheme. Those changes came into effect on 1 January and 1 March, depending on the particular change. On 1 January, the Special Access Scheme C was altered to facilitate greater access to prescriptions. That regulation change allowed all doctors and nurse practitioners to prescribe vapes where clinically appropriate.
Senator URQUHART: What is that definition? What does that mean for a medical person to be able to prescribe?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: That's a professional judgement for a health practitioner to make. Some guidance about how to make those decisions has been issued by the RACGP.
Senator URQUHART: What impact have those changes in January and March already had?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: One critical thing that those changes did was to make it much easier to police the import of vapes at the border. Prior to those import controls commencing, only nicotine vapes were regulated. The Border Force had to seize vapes that they thought might be unlawful and send them to the TGA. The TGA then had to test them to determine their regulatory status. Now all vapes have to have a customs permit, and vape importers have to have a customs licence. That makes enforcement at the border much easier. Customs officials just have to determine if the importer has the appropriate licence and permit, rather than looking at the nature of the vapes and testing them.
Prof. Lawler: Dr Gilmour-Walsh referenced the SAS C scheme, Special Access Scheme C, which is a bit of a mouthful. We have processes in place for the prescription and supply of approved goods that are on the register. The SAS process we utilise for accessing unapproved goods. There are appropriate controls around all these schemes, including things like reporting requirements and the process for application. SAS C has been designed in this instance specifically to provide a more easily facilitated pathway, which requires notification rather than application. That's in recognition of the requirement, as Dr Gilmour-Walsh says, for clinically appropriate prescription of these medicines for smoking cessation and the management of nicotine dependence.
Senator URQUHART: Legislation is currently being considered by the parliament. If I am correct, if that gets through, Australia will be the world leaders in vaping control. What changes to vaping legislation are still to come?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: The bill proposes to regulate all vapes as therapeutic goods. Vapes will continue to be available where clinically appropriate, under medical supervision. Those vapes will be appropriately regulated as therapeutic goods because they have a therapeutic purpose: helping people to stop smoking. Non-therapeutic vapes will cease to be available.
Senator URQUHART: Are they flavoured? Is that what you mean by 'non-therapeutic'?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: 'Therapeutic' means that it has a therapeutic purpose, such as to assist someone to quit smoking. The bill will impose domestic controls on non-therapeutic vapes. Non-therapeutic vapes will no longer be available, nor will disposable vapes. To make sure that vapes are appropriately accessed for medical purposes, they will only be available through a pharmacy and not through general retail suppliers.
Prof. Lawler: To put a bit of context around the term 'therapeutic vapes', because I know it can be quite challenging, there has been a lot of feedback from sections of the medical community around therapeutic use of vapes. What we are intending in that term is that goods that are used for a therapeutic purpose are regulated under the Therapeutic Goods Act. The regulatory and legislative changes are designed to see that, in any way that a vape is used, it's used in a therapeutic way; it is used for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence. As you say, that will include, down the road, some issues around concentrations and so forth. It really is around putting it in that healthcare model rather than the retail model. We know that over 85 per cent of seized non-nicotine vapes, those labelled as 'non-nicotine', do in fact contain nicotine, on testing.
Senator URQUHART: I have sat on a couple of vaping inquiries. I know there is a lot of debate around the whole issue of vaping. Can you tell me, just to make it clear: do the proposed changes outlaw vaping?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: No. The proposed changes don't outlaw vaping. Vapes will be regulated as therapeutic goods. They were created for a therapeutic purpose, being smoking cessation, so they are being regulated as therapeutic goods, in the same way as other products and other medicines that have a therapeutic purpose.
Senator URQUHART: The use is for what they were originally designed for. Is that a fair assumption?
Dr Gilmour-Walsh: Yes, that is a fair assessment.
Prof. Lawler: It is certainly what they were originally sold as, originally marketed as. We have had feedback that there should be exploration of a regulation model rather than a prohibition model. This is not a prohibition model; this is a regulation model. We are not looking to ban vapes, any more than we ban antibiotics or asthma inhalers. They are regulated as therapeutic goods because that is the initial intent, and that's how they should be provided.