Australian ban; Egar illegal

[Trumpybloke]

Welcome back O e-cig forum !!! the fight is still on !!
another article appeared on E-cigarettes being sold online | News | News.com.auE-cigarettes being sold online | News | News.com.au and I have submitted a comment plus an invitation to the editors to follow up with both myself and Dr Laugesen ....
It also appears importation of NON nicotine vaping supplies is ok via customs .... dont lose the faith !!!
( Oh and as an aside, during the break I have secured supplies of pharmaceutical grade glycerol and propylene glycol if any aussies need em for watering down purposes !!! )

[dc2k08]

Nice to see the health minister concerned about the children.

"This looks like another insidious, manipulative attempt to hook people on smoking", "I'd be very concerned about any attempts to promote smoking, especially to young people."

Were you ever able to find out Trumpy whether it's definitely not permissible to purchase nicotine liquid from outside of Oz for personal use?

[Trumpybloke]

Unfortunately DC importation of nicotine in any form without Government dispensation or permission is an offence.... sigh... the "personal use" applies in NZ but not here... it needs to have an amendment to the poisons register akin to the one made for cigarettes, and I dont see that happening without some major moving and shaking ... still trying tho !!

[Trumpybloke]

This inane linking by the Govt to smoking gets right up my bum !!!
e-cigs arent smoking dammit !!!!!
And I have NEVER seen ANY marketing of e-cigs aimed towards children, or non-smokers... its more ill-informed ( and possibly deviously crafted ) propaganda to support the Govts stance
GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I am getting mightily pissed now LOL

[Trumpybloke]

here is my comment to the editor of that article dated 19.1.2009

" I am a e-cigarette user, I chose to stop smoking the 4000 chemicals and over 60 carcinogens that our Government legally allows me to purchase in a corner store. After considerable research I chose to replace tobacco products with a blend of propylene glycol, water,a very small amount of alcohol, food grade flavourings and pure nicotine. THIS is what is in the liquid in e-cigs!!! All of the ingredients are food grade or better. E-cigarettes have to my knowledge have NEVER been marketed towards those who don't already smoke...this is HARM REDUCTION OF THE FIRST ORDER. I would strongly recommend all readers look at the Health NZ site which has extensively tested these products ( The only Govt who has) and have declared them a far safer alternative to tobacco and in fact recommend that tobacco be banned and replaced by e-cigarettes ( see Untitled Document ) and download their extensive testing at http://healthnz.co.nz/RuyanCartridgeReport21-Oct-08.pdf for the FACTS on e-cigarettes... I invite the editors and publishers as well as anyone interested of this article to contact me as I have done extensive research on these items and remain firmly convinced it is NOT in the public interest to ban them whatsoever !!!
I feel it is a shameless act of the government to ban these , based on misinformation and the need to foster a "nanny " state upon us
Not to mention the fact they haven't formalised a taxing framework as yet , so they knee jerked and banned it by using a loophole in legislation and making the nicotine a schedule 7 poison.... funny how you can still buy it in a taxable form though ( cigarettes )???
This ban was foisted without public consultation, and turned me into a criminal overnight, businesses were shut down with 14 hours notice,.... I will continue to "vape" knowing it is far far safer for me and those around me...
SHAME ON YOU , when tax dollars over-rides public health and interest ! "

[Tetsab]

Trumpy - good to see you back, mate. Keep up the good fight. I'd never thought of Aus having the same kind of nannying legislators as we do here in the UK. You'd have to be a damn well-off teenager to afford to buy a starter kit + supplies (as well as prepared to wait for 'em to arrive) rather than trotting off to a shop and buying a pack of analogues, or getting someone to buy them for you.

Think you should jump all over eBay too - get them to understand there is NO, repeat NO tobacco in an e-cig. As a result it cannot infringe their regs relating to tobacco products. Surely it should be in the same position as rolling papers and filters, which are certainly freely available on eBay in Blighty.

Oh, it's so good to be back. <memo to self - don't forget to go and offer polite thanks to the other forums who've given us refuge, solace and info>

[dc2k08]

your right, it is completely inane that she might consider these a ploy to hook people on smoking and that she is worried for the children at the cost of those already hooked who have found a possible worthy replacement.

If she wanted to do her job correctly she would offer a grant to a university to test the liquid's safety (from tobacco taxes), fund a study to see if they work as a cessation device and and not just come out with some cliché boilerplate response. I better see her initiating every single recommendation put forward at the FCTC in Durban last year if that's the line she's taking on these. Otherwise I'll brand her a hypocrite.

[SpaceCadet]

I'm a big fan of the Australian TV show Border Security (aka Nothing To Declare on the Living channel), and I've noticed how incredibly nanny-ish Australia can be! Yeah, searching for ...... hidden in people's luggage (or stomachs) is fair enough, but the range of stuff that is quarantined 'to protect Australia's environment' is a bit over the top in my opinion. I saw one episode recently where they quarantined and treated an ancient antique box 'cos it had some kind of woodworm damage, claiming that Australia's forests would be decimated if the box were released to its new owner untreated.

Pleased to see though that nearby NZ is being far more tolerant concerning the e-cigs.

[Tetsab]

Oddly, the timber thing is actually quite logical and there are good reasons for it. As the continent has been isolated physically from the rest of the world's landmasses, their native forests etc would have no defences against imported diseases and pests. Plant disease and so forth isn't very sexy for news items but can be devastating.

Don't know if you're old enough Cadet, but do you remember we used to have something called elm trees in the UK? They're nearly as rare as hens teeth now. Colorado beetle attacking potatoes? If not, just consider what rabbits have done in Australia - a major pest with no natural predators to control them. And once they're in, how do you get them out of such a vast landmass? I don't recollect any rabies scares here for some years, but just imagine bird flu and foot-and-mouth precautions x about 1,000.

From what I've heard, this antique box was pretty lucky - apparently it isn't unusual for untreated wood products to be literally incinerated on the dock.

[SpaceCadet]

Oh, ok, apologies for my uninformedness and thanks for the heads up - the isolation things makes sense!

Come to think of it, I'm not sure whether I've even ever seen an alm tree!