Australia’s health regulator rejected an application from Philip Morris which would have allowed the sale of heated tobacco products (HTPs). This follows a ban on the import of nicotine-based e-cigarettes, originally slated to start July 1 but now pushed to the beginning of next year.
Under the ban, the import of vaporizer nicotine and e-cigarettes would only be approved with a doctor’s prescription.
The regulator Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) received 82 submissions supporting heated tobacco, including 77 submissions from people who had family members who were trying to quit smoking or were smokers themselves and were advocating for HTPs as a less harmful alternative to smoking. It also received submissions from the Lung Foundation, Cancer Council Australia, Australian Council on Health and Smoking, and the National Heart Foundation reiterating their strong concerns about the public health risks of exempting HTPs from scheduling.
TGA concluded there were significant safety concerns with HTPs and that they were not satisfied that there was a net public health benefit from wider availability of nicotine in the form of heated tobacco products.
“None of the submissions provided have changed my assessment that nicotine presents a severe hazard from repeated use leading to potential addiction and a significant risk of producing irreversible toxicity, which may involve serious, acute, or chronic health risks or death,” a delegate of the secretary wrote.
TGA also said nicotine concentrations varied between HTPs and could be higher than cigarettes, making second-hand smoke even more dangerous.