The Australian Medical Association has accused David Littleproud and the National Party of heeding the advice of the tobacco lobby over medical experts on e-cigarettes, accusing the minor Coalition party of “gambling with people's health”.
Ahead of a crucial vote in Parliament this week on the government's e-cigarette regulations, AMA president Professor Steve Robson said the National Party's proposal to regulate e-cigarettes in the same way as tobacco was “a tax grab with a total disregard for Australian health”.
In a scathing letter to Littleproud, Mr Robson warned that e-cigarettes containing nicotine can contain chemicals such as acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and benzene, as well as heavy metals such as nickel and lead, some of which are known to cause cancer and disease.
“Faced with these facts, it is incomprehensible that your party is willing to gamble with people's health while waiting for further evidence to emerge,” Mr Robson wrote in the letter to Mr Littleproud, seen by Guardian Australia.
“By that point, it will be too late and we will have only served the interests of the e-cigarette and tobacco industry lobby.”
In his response, Littleproud said his party “does not dispute the science or the health effects of nicotine, but the AMA's level of expertise and advice stops there. They have no experience of border security or wider regulatory or policing.”
The government's bill, Labor's third wave of e-cigarette legislation, would ban the domestic manufacture, advertising, supply and commercial possession of e-cigarettes for non-therapeutic purposes. As a true therapeutic tool for smoking cessation, e-cigarettes would only be available with a doctor's prescription. Previous bills had banned the importation of e-cigarettes and increased enforcement efforts.
But the National Party is strongly opposed to the plans, with Littleproud saying in March that “there is unanimity in the National Party that e-cigarettes need to be regulated in the same way as tobacco.”
“We need better regulation, not bans. Bans aren't working,” Littleproud said at the time.
National Party MP Pat Conaghan has led the development of the party's e-cigarette policy, which is said to include requiring e-cigarettes to be sold only in specialist stores and imposing age restrictions on purchases.
Under the new bill, e-cigarettes would be made available only by prescription as a 'therapeutic tool' – VIDEO
Green Party leader Adam Bandt also questioned the abstinence model but stressed his party was approaching the issue from a “completely different position” to National, and said his colleague would rather focus more on harm minimisation.
In his letter, Robson described the AMA's “deep disappointment” with the Nationals' stance and expressed concerns about the impact of e-cigarettes on children's brains.
“Nicotine use has been shown to adversely affect cognition, reasoning, and attention, and has been associated with mood disorders,” Robson wrote.
“With all due respect, e-cigarettes are one of the most significant public health challenges facing Australia and our medical experts are known for providing trusted advice on public health policy.”
Asked for comment, Littleproud told Guardian Australia the National Party supported “increased regulation of the sale of e-cigarette products”.
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“The current policy, which is effectively a prohibition model, isn't working because less than 10% of Australians who vape have a prescription, so the only ones who benefit from this approach are organised criminals,” he said.
“These products should be restricted to those aged 18 and over, their contents should be restricted to licensed retailers, similar to current tobacco sales, and excise tax should be used to educate Australians about the health risks and community health.”
The government's bill to impose a near-total ban on recreational e-cigarette use goes before the Senate on Monday, reviving a political fight over health measures. The bill passed the House of Representatives in May and now goes before the Senate. The government needs the support of at least one of the National, Liberal and Green parties to pass the bill into law.
Mr Littleproud has previously suggested the National Party may take a different position to the Liberal Party on e-cigarette reform.
The government wants the changes to come into force on July 1, but the bill needs to pass the Senate this week for that to happen. Government sources said the government was still seeking support for the changes from the full Senate.
The positions of the Liberal and Green parties are still unclear.
Liberal Party sources said the party was concerned about children's access to e-cigarettes and that the government's reforms could allow the hidden market to grow. Shadow Health Secretary Anne Ruston said the coalition was “going through its internal processes before making a final decision” on the bill.
“We acknowledge that serious concerns have been raised through our investigations that entrenching a prescription-only model will not prevent children from accessing e-cigarette products and will further encourage the sale of these products on the black market,” she said.
The office of Green Party health spokesperson Jordan Steele-John did not respond to a request for comment.
