AACS: ECIGARETTES AN OPPORTUNITY TOO IMPORTANT TO MISS

January 15, 2018: The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has welcomed comments by Colin Mendelsohn, associate professor and tobacco treatment specialist at the University of NSW, for lending a credible medical opinion to the debate against a chorus of other health lobbyists with “entrenched views” on the subject of eCigarettes and vaping.
In the media today, Mendelsohn writes: “Australia needs to embrace the new paradigm of vaping and leave the prohibitionist, abstinence-only policy (“quit or die”) in the past where it belongs”.
Most Australians agree, says AACS CEO Jeff Rogut.
“The fact is eCigarettes have helped millions of people around the world quit smoking traditional tobacco and is it mystifying that Australia is taking an alternate view of products with so much potential to have a positive impact on societal health,” Mr Rogut says.
“The view of the Department of Health and some major medical bodies in Australia is at odds with the only available evidence on eCigarettes as well as the views of the international medical community.
“It’s also a view at odds with those of the majority of the voting public. AACS research in this area shows Australians are overwhelmingly in support of legalising eCigarettes if they can help smokers quit. More than half of Australians feeling so strongly about the issue that it could influence their vote.”
The AACS research – the most extensive ever undertaken on the topic of eCigarettes in Australia – shows that 54% of Australians view the legalisation of eCigarettes as a potential vote-influencing or even vote-changing issue. It also shows that 73% of Australians would support the legalisation of eCigarettes to help smokers quit.
“Australians are being denied legal access to products that have the potential to save their lives for no credible reason. It makes no sense to provide smokers less alternatives. If we are serious about reducing the incidence of smoking we should be providing smokers more options,” Mr Rogut says.
“The development of a framework to govern the legal sale of eCigarettes is urgently required to bring Australia in line with the rest of the world. It is time for the Government to show strong leadership on this issue or accept the blame for putting the health and lives of Australians at greater risk,” he says.
In 2016, Public Health England and numerous other UK public health organisations released a joint statement on developing a public health consensus on eCigarettes, products they state “are the most popular quitting tool in the country with more than 10 times as many people using them than using local stop smoking services”.
A Public Health England study from 2015 shows that eCigarettes – which do not contain tobacco – are around 95% safer than conventional cigarettes. Other independent organisations such as the UK Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies are also on the record as supporting the use of eCigarettes as a quitting tool.
Mr Rogut says the growing black market for illicit eCigarettes heightens the urgency to develop a proper legal framework. Additionally, the AACS believes other safe stop-smoking products such as nicotine gums and patches should be more readily available.
“Otherwise, as we’ve seen with the dramatic rise of the illicit trade of tobacco in Australia, criminal gangs will invariably fill the gap in the legal market with untested and potentially unsafe products,” Mr Rogut says.
The AACS has identified several key considerations in the legalisation of eCigarettes, including restrictions in sales to minors, ensuring they are child tamper proof, contain an ingredients list, comply with quality standards and are manufactured and sold with strict safety standards in place.
A breakdown of the key AACS research findings into eCigarettes is included overleaf.
Further information:                                                                                             
Jeff Rogut
Chief Executive Officer
Australasian Association of Convenience Stores
Ph: +61 467 873
Media enquiries: 
Stephen Naylor
Wise McBaron Communication
Ph: +61 (2) 9279 4770