Aftab Ahmed and Aditya Kalra September 18, 2019 The Age New Delhi: India banned the production, import and sale of electronic cigarettes on Wednesday, a public health decision that will dash the expansion plans of companies such as Juul Labs and Philip Morris International in the country. The ban will be imposed through an executive order and will include jail terms of up to three years for offenders. India’s health ministry, which proposed the ban, had said it was needed to ensure e-cigarettes don’t become an “epidemic” among children and young adults. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet that possession of e-cigarettes or similar devices will be punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine of 50,000 rupees ($AU1,026) or both. “Considering the seriousness of the impact of e-cigarettes on the youth, the cabinet has approved an ordinance to ban e-cigarettes,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told…

David Marin-Guzman Sep 19, 2019 AFR Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter will release a discussion paper on Thursday to determine the threshold for criminal sanctions for underpayments after the government said that significant jail time is necessary to deter further cases. The Morrison government has prioritised criminalising wage theft as the first of its industrial relations reforms and has raised the prospect of up to 10 years’ jail time for the most serious cases. “The government considers it unacceptable that there is a persistence of underpayment and exploitation behaviours by a small number of employers and considers there to now be a strong case that the current penalty, compliance, and enforcement framework … needs to be improved,” the discussion paper says. The paper follows recommendations earlier this year from the migrant worker taskforce, chaired by Allan Fels, that found strong evidence of systematic and deliberate underpayments by some employers. No…

Natassia Chrysanthos September 20, 2019The Age Pure and highly concentrated caffeine products pose an “unacceptably high risk” to consumers and should urgently be banned from sale in Australia. A review into the sale and safety of high caffeine content products by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) released on Friday also recommends a maximum limit for caffeine in foods, and a public information campaign about safe caffeine consumption. Senator Richard Colbeck, who is responsible for food regulation, ordered the review in July after a coroner found Blue Mountains man Lachlan Foote, 21, died from caffeine toxicity when he ingested one teaspoon of pure caffeine powder in a protein shake. Lachlan’s father Nigel Foote said he was pleased to hear of the recommended ban, which would “protect consumers and save lives”. He said the attention spurred by his viral Facebook post about his son’s death “has been a great example of…

BJORN LOMBORGSEPTEMBER 21, 2019 The Australian  World leaders will soon arrive in New York for a climate summit likely to do little more than add to the hysteria drowning out any sober talk on climate policy. Amid warnings that we have days left to act, politicians will jostle to share the spotlight with celebrity activists such as 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who came from Europe by wind-powered boat. Hurricane Dorian looms large over proceedings as a harbinger of doom. After 30 years of failed climate policy, more of the same is not the answer. Since the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, our use of renewable energy has increased by only 1.1 percentage points — from meeting 13.1 per cent of the world’s energy needs in 1992 to 14.2 per cent today. Most nations are failing to deliver on carbon cut undertakings already made — yet politicians will be feted in…

CONNOR BOYD HEALTH REPORTER 21 September 2019MAILONLINE Man had normal lung function before taking up vaping in May, health bosses said Experienced trouble breathing which gradually worsened and he went to A&E Died from acute respiratory distress syndrome after month in Missouri hospital A man in his forties has become the eighth person in the US to die from smoking e-cigarettes as the number sickened by vaping rises to 500. The man, from Missouri, had normal lung function until he started using the devices in May, health officials said.  He began experiencing trouble breathing which gradually got worse before he was taken to hospital in St Louis on August 22, where he died on Thursday. Dr Michael Plisco, critical care pulmonologist at Mercy Hospital in St Louis, said: ‘He started out with shortness of breath and it rapidly progressed and deteriorated, developing into what is called acute respiratory distress syndrome…

Jelisa Castrodale Stainless steel cups are being loaned out by Berkeley coffee shops and can be returned to receptacles around the city. Eleven coffee shops in Berkeley, California are doing their part to cut down on single-use coffee cups by giving their customers the option to temporarily borrow a stainless steel cup when they order their next caffe latte to go. The participating cafés have joined forces with Vessel, a Colorado company that says its goal is to “positively disrupt the disposables industry” by offering a first-of-its kind reusable cup service. According to KPIX, this pilot program launched in the city on Wednesday, and is part of a city-mandated shift away from single-use and throwaway culture; by January 1, 2020, restaurants, cafés, and coffee shops in the city will be required to have certified compostable foodware on-offer, and using a disposable cup will add an extra 25 cents to the…