An import ban of e-cigarettes and nicotine refills is a recipe for disaster as far as Dr Jody Morgan is concerned.
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The toxicology expert from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience at the University of Wollongong, sees a number of flaws in the ban which starts on July 1.
From that date people will no longer be able to import nicotine containing e-cigarette fluids into Australia, even with a prescription.
"The main concerns that I personally have is related around how people are going to go about illegally accessing nicotine once this ban comes in place," Dr Morgan said.
She said people were more likely to import high concentrations of nicotine to mix themselves, which is dangerous.
"There is going to be a high risk if people turn to the black market where they are going to be importing nicotine which is off quite a high concentration," Dr Morgan said.
"There 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."
Over 100,000 regular vapers in Australia won't be able to access their nicotine-containing e-fluids from next Wednesday.
"These people might revert back to smoking, which has an increased risk of harm.
"There's 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."
Dr Morgan said in a perfect world e-cigarettes and nicotine refills would be regulated, not banned.
"They need to be sold domestically in Australia as an appropriate concentration and with appropriate labeling and packaging and ensuring that they have child proof caps and a whole range of different things to minimise harm to the general public," she said.