Customers puff on e-cigarettes
Customers puff on e-cigarettes at the Henley Vaporium in New York City December 18, 2013. At the Henley Vaporium, one of a growing number of e-cigarette lounges sprouting up in New York and other U.S. cities, patrons can indulge in their choice of more than 90 flavors of nicotine-infused vapor, ranging from bacon to bubble gum.The growing popularity of e-cigarettes has not escaped the notice of the industry's critics, who have stepped up calls for new regulations, including bans on their use in public places, even though the scientific evidence about exposure to their vapors remains inconclusive. Reuters/Mike Segar

Tobacco industry has found a way to do business without being held liable in NSW with e-cigarettes, which are not within the ambit of Public Health Act 2008, and thus maintain a lucrative market in Australia, according to a report. Health advocates expressed concerns as the old fears tobacco products have had are now coming back, glaring right through them from convenience stores.

Public Health Act 2008 prohibits tobacco products from being displayed in shops and from using fruity or sweet flavours to allure the youth, especially the minors. The NSW Cancer Council audited 1510 tobacco retailers and discovered 5.1 percent of outlets are selling e-cigarettes displayed beside confectionery items and sometimes, at the counter next to candies and other sweets.

Scott Walsberg, control unit manager of council’s tobacco, said the council’s conclusion indicate an urgency for the government to regulate e-cigs similar to what the government does to regular tobacco products. Sydney Morning Herald reports that the NSW government introduced last week a legislation banning the sale of e-cigs to minors.

But Jeremy Buckingham, spokesman for Greens health, argued the “laws were just tinkering at the edges” and e-cig retailers may have already breached the law when they sold products containing nicotine and having an appearance similar to tobacco products. When Buckingham asked for the figure of prosecutions in NSW related to selling e-cigarettes, the government refused to answer.

“The indication is that there has not been a prosecution in NSW for the sale of these products containing nicotine. There’s clearly been a massive failure by the NSW government to regulate the industry,” The Morning Herald quoted Buckingham, adding that e-cig industry is growing in an alarming rate without complying with the laws, while NSW government sits on its hands.

First developed in 2003 in Beijing, the e-cigarettes were hyped as a safer way of smoking, helping smokers to eventually quit. Most of e-cigs today are not only packed with nicotine, which is illegal in NSW, but they take the shape of pipes, hookahs and cigars. E-cigarettes continue to attract consumers. According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, among teens 14 years old and up, one in seven smokers has tried e-cig in the last 12 months.

For comments or feedback on the article, contact the writer at kizmet@ymail.com.

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