Australia - Clearing the Air

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6 ways public health messaging is missing the mark

Public health communication around nicotine is full of mixed messages. From blurring key scientific distinctions to issuing guidance that treats very different products as interchangeable, several high-profile campaigns risk confusing the very people they aim to inform. Here are six examples of…

News Science

Youth vape risk measures may be overstated, suggests new study

Only 51.9 per cent of youth who said they might vape went on to try it within four years. 28.8 per cent of youth who said they definitely wouldn’t vape tried it anyway. The measure did not reliably identify which young people…

News Science

Expert debunks claims that vaping slowed smoking declines down under

A new expert analysis has challenged claims that vaping has slowed progress in cutting youth smoking rates in Australia and New Zealand. Recent academic papers from the University of Sydney’s Professor Becky Freeman and her team argue that the rise of vaping…

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OPINION: Belgium is becoming a narco-state, so the Government’s giving the gangs another market to play in: nicotine.

There are some upsides to living in Brussels, as I have done for much of my adult life. The tax system sucks, but the cost of housing is reasonable (for this London boy anyway), the schools and hospitals are great, and there’s…

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Belgium confirms outdoor smoking and vaping ban from 2027

Belgium will ban smoking and vaping on public terraces and in designated smoking rooms from 1 January 2027. The federal government says the measure covers restaurant and café terraces as well as smoking rooms in airports, hospitality venues and clubs that cater…

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5 black market fails from Australia

Australia’s aggressive tobacco and vaping taxes have created a $5 billion (€2.8 billion) illicit market, which experts have branded “the worst example of bad policy in the world.” Instead of reducing harm, the clampdown has pushed smokers and vapers towards unregulated products,…

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Rapid switch from smoking to vaping helping close New Zealand’s major health gaps, expert says

New Zealand’s rapid decline in smoking rates - driven by a rapid switch to vaping - is helping to narrow some of the country’s starkest health inequalities, according to a public health expert. “A Pākehā [New Zealander of European descent] boy born…

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Australia’s vape crackdown fails as black market surges

Australia’s crackdown on vaping is failing, with new official figures showing only a trickle of legal sales through pharmacies while the black market thrives. Since October, ‘therapeutic vapes’ - legal, regulated products with limited flavours - have only been available to buy…

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Teenagers turn to black market for vapes

Most under-18s who vape are sourcing vapes through the black market, new polling suggests - a warning sign that restrictions and bans are failing to keep products out of young people’s hands. A survey of 2,000 adults and 500 youths aged 15…

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