Freeman Becky
School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia;
Public Health Res Pract. 2023 Mar 15;33(1):3312304. doi: 10.17061/phrp3312304.
Australia has long been heralded as a leader in tobacco control, but more than 10 years have passed since the country implemented the world's first tobacco plain packaging reforms. In late 2022, the Australian Federal Government announced it would be "reigniting the fight against tobacco addiction". The forthcoming reforms package will help modernise and re-energise Australian tobacco control. The Government has signalled that preliminary reforms will include updating graphic health warnings, standardising tobacco pack sizes and filters, and banning menthol and flavours. The recently endorsed National Tobacco Strategy 2023-2030 also opens the door to further supply-side reforms. Ten years ago, when Australia fought multiple legal challenges from the tobacco industry and established plain packaging as a best practice standard, e-cigarette or vaping products were a fringe issue with little presence in Australia. Today, vaping product use by young Australians has dramatically and rapidly increased. Easy access and marketing of cheap, flavoured, disposable, nicotine-containing vaping products are driving use. Recognising that the current approach to e-cigarette regulation is not achieving its aim of preventing children and adolescents from accessing vaping products, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) launched a consultation on possible reforms in late 2022. Currently, vaping importers and retailers are exploiting an exemption for non-nicotine products in regulations, and nicotine-containing products are masquerading as non-nicotine products. The ideal public health solution would see the elimination of all vaping product sales, nicotine and non-nicotine alike, that fall outside of the TGA prescription-only access pathway. After 10 years of minimal action, it is invigorating to have three key initiatives in play to fully "reignite" tobacco control - the tobacco legislation renewal and update, the imminent national strategy release, and the TGA consultation on vaping products. Re-establishing Australia as a tobacco control leader is welcome news for public health.
长期以来，澳大利亚一直被誉为烟草控制领域的领导者，但自该国实施全球首个烟草平装改革以来，已经过去了十多年。2022年末，澳大利亚联邦政府宣布将“重新发起反对烟草成瘾的斗争”。即将出台的改革方案将有助于使澳大利亚的烟草控制实现现代化并重新焕发生机。政府已表明，初步改革将包括更新健康警示图片、规范烟包尺寸和过滤嘴，以及禁止薄荷醇和调味剂。最近得到认可的《2023 - 2030年国家烟草战略》也为进一步的供应侧改革打开了大门。十年前，当澳大利亚应对烟草行业的多项法律挑战并将平装确立为最佳实践标准时，电子烟或雾化产品还是一个边缘问题，在澳大利亚几乎没有什么市场。如今，澳大利亚年轻人使用雾化产品的情况急剧且迅速增加。廉价、有味道、一次性、含尼古丁的雾化产品易于获取且大肆营销，这推动了其使用。澳大利亚治疗用品管理局（TGA）认识到当前的电子烟监管方法未能实现防止儿童和青少年获取雾化产品的目标，于2022年末就可能的改革展开了磋商。目前，雾化产品进口商和零售商正在利用法规中对非尼古丁产品的豁免规定，含尼古丁产品正伪装成非尼古丁产品。理想的公共卫生解决方案是消除所有不在TGA仅凭处方获取途径范围内的雾化产品销售，无论其含尼古丁与否。在采取了十年的极少行动之后，有三项关键举措正在实施，以全面“重新发起”烟草控制，这令人振奋——烟草立法的更新与修订、即将发布的国家战略，以及TGA对雾化产品的磋商。让澳大利亚重新成为烟草控制领域的领导者，这对公共卫生来说是个好消息。
