精东传媒

June 24, 2020

UOW expert: Dr Jody Morgan on import ban of e-cigarettes and nicotine refills

From 1 January 2021 people will no longer be able to import nicotine-containing e-cigarette fluids into Australia, even with a prescription.

Dr Jody Morgan is a toxicology expert from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience at the 精东传媒 of 精东传媒. She says several problems may arise as a result of this ban.

鈥淭here are over 100,000 regular vapers in Australia and this means as of July they won鈥檛 be able to access their nicotine-containing e-fluids. These people might revert back to smoking, which has an increased risk of harm,鈥� she says. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 also a chance that international companies will produce nicotine-containing fluids without nicotine labels or appropriate warnings to allow the import of these substances, which increases the risk of accidental nicotine exposure.鈥�

Dr Morgan says people are also more likely to import high concentrations of nicotine to mix themselves, which is dangerous.

鈥淭here is currently up to 1000 mg/ml nicotine in a 1L bottle available for import to Australia. This is 42 times more concentrated than the highest concentrations of pre-mixed nicotine used by vapers. This poses a serious risk, particularly for accidental oral or dermal exposure.鈥�

Dr Morgan is available for interview.