UPDATE 18 November 2020: Our sumbission has been accepted and will be considered by the Australian Senate Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction. Our voices are being heard and hopefully taken into account.

The World Vapers’ Alliance joined forces with 11 other vaping groups to urge the government of Australia to liberalise vaping regulations.

The Australian Senate is initiating a study on vaping and it has constituted a ‘Select Committee’ to study the issue of vaping and future regulations. The World Vapers’ Alliance, together with eleven partner organisations, submitted to the consultation advocating for the liberalisation of vaping in Australia to help smokers to quit.

In the submission, we show that 675,000 additional smokers could quit if Australia follows the example of countries where vaping is liberalised. . Smoking rates in Australia are falling more slowly than in countries which have embraced vaping such as the UK and the United States of America.

We wanted to make sure that the facts are out there, in front of the Select Committee and layed out that:

• Vaping is less harmful compared to cigarettes

• If Australia would adopt the regulatory approach of the United Kingdom up to 675,000 smokers could switch to vaping

• Vaping is an effective cessation tool & mostly used by former smokers

• Vaping is less appealing to adolescents than many believe.

To succeed in its fight against smoking, Australia must end its war on vaping and liberalise regulations instead. We want policymakers to recognise the benefits of vaping, and its potential to massively reduce the harm of smoking. Policymakers must not ignore the facts any longer.

The 11 other organisations supporting our submission are: Legalise Vaping Australia, Consumer Choice Centre, APORVAP Portugal, THR Brazil, Vapor Aqui Brazil, CHROM Croatia, Tobacco Harm Reduction Congo, ASOVAPE Costa RIca, ASOVAPE Colombia, ASOVAPE Chile and THR Nigeria.

Bernhard Mayer, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Graz, Austria, as WVA Scientific Advisor is also a signatory of the consultation.

Michael Landl