What The Media Say - June To August 2025

Pippa Starr
Jun 20
7 min read

Updated: Jul 21

This page analyses what is said about Australian vaping and tobacco harm reduction in the media, including what may be published in journals and by influencers.

This will help to hold the media accountable to report accurately and sensibly.

🔥💣💥For all firebombing reports go here>>

2025 Media Sentiment Score (June - August '25):

Positive	7
Neutral	12
Negative	1

June 2025:

2 June 2025 - UK Bans Disposable Vapes To Stop Litter & Children's Use

"A ban on disposable vapes has come into force across the UK as the British government aims to stem their use by children, reduce litter and prevent the leaking of harmful chemicals into the environment." source>>

The article is wrong and here's why:

The article announcing the UK ban on disposable vapes presents a surface-level policy summary, but it warrants a critical review due to its selective framing and lack of scientific balance. Here's a critique grounded in evidence from public health and harm reduction literature:

🔍 Policy Justifications vs Evidence-Based Impact

1. Environmental Concerns (Litter and Fire Hazard)

The article accurately notes the environmental waste from disposable vapes, a real and justifiable concern. Reports suggest that up to 5 million disposables are discarded weekly in the UK, often improperly【Article】.

However, while the environmental rationale is valid, the policy does not distinguish between banning disposables entirely and improving recycling and product stewardship. Regulatory alternatives—like mandatory battery take-back schemes or eco-design standards—were not considered or mentioned.

2. Youth Use

The government’s justification heavily leans on curbing youth vaping. Yet evidence consistently shows that:

Most youth vaping is experimental and short-term.
Regular use among never-smokers is rare and the majority of young vapers are current or former smokers.
Vaping is displacing, not promoting, youth smoking.

Moreover, media narratives of an "epidemic" or "public health catastrophe" are not supported by the data.

🧪 Disposables as Smoking Cessation Tools

Disposable vapes have been crucial for certain populations, especially:

Low-income smokers and those with limited mobility or manual dexterity who struggle with refillable devices.
New quitters, for whom disposables offer an easy, low-barrier entry point to vaping.

The UK NHS, Public Health England, and the Royal College of Physicians have all affirmed that vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking and effective as a quit aid. A full ban on disposables risks undermining these gains.

⚖️ Unintended Consequences and Industry Perspective

The article briefly quotes the UK Vaping Industry Association’s warning about unintended consequences. This concern is not without merit:

Black Market Growth: A ban may fuel unregulated supply channels, especially to youth—a pattern observed in Australia under tight prescription-only models.
Relapse Risk: Adult ex-smokers using disposables may relapse to cigarettes if their preferred products become inaccessible.

🎯 Selective Framing and Policy Alternatives

The article fails to consider proportionate alternatives, such as:

Mandatory age verification and licensing for retailers.
Eco-regulation without a full product ban.

🧭 Conclusion

The article presents the UK disposable vape ban as a straightforward solution to youth use and environmental damage. However, this framing oversimplifies complex issues and ignores robust evidence showing the public health benefits of vaping, especially for adult smokers. It also neglects viable policy alternatives that might mitigate youth uptake without compromising harm reduction.

The most effective policies are those that reduce risk without sacrificing opportunity for smokers to quit.

2 June 2025 - Chris Minns Call's For Lower Tobacco Excise

ABC :

NSW Premier Chris Minns has called for the federal excise on tobacco to be reviewed.

It comes amid a rise in sales of illegal tobacco across NSW and throughout Australia.

The justification for this excise, which was first introduced in 2010, is to reduce smoking rates.

source>>

3 June 2025- Chris Minns Says Tobacco Tax Is Boosting Black Market

NSW Premier Chris Minns spoke with Ben and issued a stern message to the prime minister regarding the tobacco tax and its impact on the black market. source>>

3 June 2025 - Tobacco Tax Queried As High Prices Drive Black Market

""It's the incorrect policy that's been driven by the health department based on ideological zealotry, a deep-seated and unhinged desire to defeat big tobacco,"

source>>

4 June 2025 - Treasurer Not Convinced Cutting Tobacco Excise Will End Illegal Activity📺

7 June 2025 - Experts Back Chris Minns Plea For Cig Tax Cut

NSW Premier Chris Minns says law-abiding citizens are being “dragged into the black market” by the federal government’s tobacco tax – and he wants that to change.

Mr Minns threw down the gauntlet this week when he called for a re-evaluation of the tobacco excise, kicking-off political rows in both Sydney and Canberra.

Twice yearly, the federal government sets the excise for tobacco products but in this year’s budget recorded a $5.2bn decline in revenue since 2022-23. source>>

7 June 2025 - $10 or $58? How Australia is losing the war on illegal tobacco

These two 20-packs of Marlboro cigarettes are among hundreds of varieties freely sold across shop counters across Sydney but, while one costs $58, the other is sold for just $10.

The $58 pack of legal smokes were locked behind black casing in Woolworths and sold with a government-regulated warning label, which showed an image of a young boy struggling to breathe with the words “second-hand smoke reduces your child’s lung capacity”.

But at a recently-opened convenience store in Sydney’s north, an illegal pack plastered with a dupe of the famous Marlboro logo was being flogged for just $10 on a shelf alongside 20 different varieties. Source>>

10 June 2025 - Australia's response to illegal smoking has been labelled 'appalling failure 📺

10 June 2025 - Casey Costello: NZ Minister says Australia has failed

A leading New Zealand government minister has criticised Labor’s handling of the war on tobacco, citing the key reason her policy worked. A leading New Zealand Government politician has attributed her nation’s “massive decline” in daily cigarette smokers to the regulation of vaping products. Source>>

11 June 2025 - Tobacco excise has passed a ‘tipping point’ and is fuelling black market

Economists say regular increases to the tobacco excise have stopped working to further lower smoking rates, and are instead encouraging a soaring cigarette black market. Source>>

12 June 2025 - Illegal 'chop shop raided in Mackay and millions of cigarettes, loose tobacco and vapes seized

Police and Mackay Public Health Unit officers have seized one of the largest hauls of illicit tobacco and nicotine products in a single raid in Queensland history. source>>

13 June 2025 - WHO under fire for blocking proven tools to reduce smoking deaths

"Pippa Starr, founder of ALIVE (Australia, Let’s Improve Vaping Education), said the WHO’s rhetoric has not changed over the past decade. “About 11 or 12 years ago, they said in their statement that if we keep going as we are right now, we’re going to lose up to a billion lives this century,” Starr said. “Eleven or 12 years later, how much success have they had? Well, right as we stand, we’re on track to lose 1.2 billion lives this century.”

Starr specifically cited Australia’s challenges, stating, “Australia has a massive black market and 66 people die daily from smoking-related disease. These outcomes are tied to WHO-endorsed policies. Rather than reward failed approaches, the WHO should be focused on saving lives.” source>>

13 June 2025 - Harm reduction advocates say WHO's stance is costing lives

Starr particularly cited Australia's challenges, saying, "Australia has a massive black market and 66 people die daily from smoking-related disease. These outcomes are tied to WHO-endorsed policies. Rather than reward failed approaches, the WHO should be focused on saving lives." source>>

16 June 2025 - Black market surges as Albanese Labor government’s vape scheme goes up in smoke

The Albanese government’s vape scheme is in disarray with new figures revealing just one in every 1686 vape sales, excluding those involving prescriptions, occur legally through a pharmacy. Source>>

16 June 2025 - VAPE SCHEME UP IN SMOKE

Most pharmacies aren’t interested. While there are more than 5900 pharmacies across the country, only about 700 are participating in the scheme each month. Source>>

16 June 2025 - ‘Vape fail’ – More than 99% of sales happening on black market

We can’t say we didn’t see this coming, but the Federal Government’s vape crackdown is an epic fail!

There are no surprises here – people are still turning to the black market. Source>>

18 June 2025 - Rundle Street convenience stores closed in tobacco & vape crack down

Half of Rundle Street's convenience stores have been forced to close for 28 days following alleged illegal tobacco & vape sales.

source>>

18 June 2025 - Queensland Health seeks court order to shut tobacco stores for six months

Queensland Health is seeking a court order to shut down six tobacco stores.

The case is the first legal test of Queensland's strict new closure laws targeting the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes. Source>>

20 June 2025 - Illegal tobacco commissioner Erin Dale refused British American Tobacco’s request for meeting

Embattled national tobacco tsar Erin Dale refused to meet with a major company who wanted to warn that illicit use was skyrocketing under her watch.

British American Tobacco (BAT) is understood to have written to Ms Dale’s office last month requesting a meeting after “closely monitoring the growth of the illegal trade”.

It found that 39.4 per cent of all tobacco sales were on the black market in 2024 – up 11.4 per cent from 2023 (28 per cent).

Illicit sales are also predicted to rise to 54.6 per cent this year and escalate to 64.2 per cent by the end of 2026, if current policy and enforcement isn’t changed. Source>>

20 June 2025 - Names, locations of every Queensland shop caught selling illegal tobacco (& Vapes)

Between July 1 2024 and May 31 2025, 940 penalty infringement notices have been issued for supply and possession of illicit products with a value of more than $17.6 million. A Queensland Health spokesman said they take a zero-tolerance approach to the supply of illegal vaping and tobacco products. Source>>

July 2025:

1 July 2025 - Smoking increases among young Australians since ‘vaping sales ban’ in 2024 🚨Roy Morgan Pulled This From Their Social Media on July 3🚨