Friday 11 April 2014

E-Cigs Ruled Illegal In Australia

Those Aussies sure do have a funny interpretation of the word 'health'.

From Aussie Vapers:
After [HeavenlyVapours.com] had been running for almost a year and was doing very well (rating on the first page of Google results etc) we suddenly got raided by the Health Department. They arrived at my house in 3 black SUV's and proceeded to execute a search warrant. They searched through my house and proceeded to load all of the hardware I had into several black garbage bags. The search and seizure went on for about an hour and half before they decided they had found and taken enough. They also took photos etc. The whole process was pretty invasive and surreal. They alleged at the time that I and my company had breached section 106a of the Tobacco Products Control Act 2006.
A long process ensued which resulted in the company being acquitted in October 2013.

This made the professional bansturbators of Western Australia mighty mad. They simply cannot contemplate the existence of anything that even resembles a cigarette and fully believed they had just the law to prohibit the devices.
Court defeat fuels move to ban e-cigs
Yep, that's correct. Defeat just made them more determined to try harder next time.
Cancer Council WA director of education and research Terry Slevin said it was a legal loophole that needed to be fixed because electronic cigarettes were a growing concern. 
Mr Slevin said the Tobacco Products Control Act was due for a review and could help ban e-cigarettes as well as address issues such as the need to reduce the number of licensed tobacco retailers. 
"This incident of a failed attempt to prosecute points to the fact that the current provisions are not adequate," he said.
As a result, the WA "Health" Department (inverted commas because, as you know, it's nothing to do with health) sprang into action once again (emphases mine).
[T]he Health Department or more particularly Bruce Hawkings of the health department a few weeks later lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court. 
We appeared in the Supreme Court and we and the prosecution made our various arguments. The Judge J Pritchard adjourned the matter for deliberation. Yesterday on the 10 of April 2014 we were summoned to receive the judgement. 
Judge Pritchard found in favour of the Health Department and in her decision expanded her conclusion to determine that in effect any product E-Cig or otherwise that involves a hand to mouth action and results in the expulsion of vapour does in fact resemble a tobacco product and [therefore] falls under section 106a of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2006.
What does this mean? Well in short it means any model of E-Cig irrespective of its design is now illegal by case law precedent to be sold from within WA. One can only imagine that the other states may now try to follow suit.
And so, by way of judicial precedent, e-cigs are now ruled illegal in Australia.

This is a perfect example of the irrational, and borderline insane, mentality of a tobacco control industry drunk on power and aided by pathetically weak will of idiot politicians. Precisely the same conditions which led the US into prohibition of alcohol nearly a century ago - the damaging reverberations of which are still in evidence today - with precisely the same type of psychotic individuals running amok to the murderous detriment of the public at large.

Anyone who claims to call themselves part of the 'public health' community in Australia should be feeling deeply ashamed of themselves today. But I expect they'll be celebrating instead.

There's a very special place in Hell reserved for each and every one of them.


45 comments:

Russell Vincent Richard Ord said...

",,any product E-Cig or otherwise that involves a hand to mouth action and results in the expulsion of vapour does in fact resemble a tobacco product and [therefore] falls under section 106a of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2006."
Does this mean that hot drinks fall under the same Act?

vapingpoint said...

Words fail!

Jack Dawson said...

So a popular way of giving up tobacco has been banned by public health officials. A group legal action, suing those who have, in effect, put the health of vapers at risk seems necessary.

westcoast2 said...

Oh no! Another possible 'Loophole' - 'Hand to mouth action'. How about a 'device' attached to a necklace, with a tube? You move your head to the tube and press a button on the side of the necklace, no H2M! I am sure some artistic type could produce an aesthetically pleasing device of this ilk. This judgement may lead to unforeseen consequences.

S. Nolan said...

So they just banned the Nicorette Inhaler. It might not be visable, but it still expels a vapor.

I think it's also important to point out that e-cigs sold in Australia don't contain nicotine. So they also banned any sort of fog machine if you hold it in your hand and get it anywhere near your mouth.

This can't possibly stand.

Russell Vincent Richard Ord said...

Strewth!! No more eating snags straight off the barbie.

harleyrider1778 said...

Croatian charged over odd treatments to quit smoking

A Croatian pensioner who allegedly choked patients in his bathroom until they fainted in a bid to wean them off cigarettes faces a possible prison term for "charlatanism", prosecutors said on Friday.

With a client list that included a former government minister and a local pop star, 69-year-old Petar Miro Zanki thought he had hit on an unorthodox way of breaking the smoking habit.

But questions have been raised over the self-proclaimed chiropractor's methods, which included covering clients' faces with a towel and blowing cigarette smoke into their face, according to the Jutarnji List daily.

Another favoured treatment involved stimulating acupressure points on clients' necks, making them lose breath.

Two unsatisfied clients complained to prosecutors, saying Zanki had squeezed their necks until they passed out.

They said the method had failed to help them quit smoking.

Operating out of his bathroom in the central coastal town of Trogir, Zanki lacked any necessary qualifications for carrying out his unconventional treatments, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Zanki has been charged with "charlatanism", which carries a potential prison sentence of up to six months.

But some clients have come out in defence of Zanki's unusual methods, with a former agricultural minister and local celebrities saying they had positive experiences, according to local media.

The treatments -- which Zanki carried out between 2011 and 2012, cost 200 euros ($280) per session, the prosecutors said.

Croatia, which joined EU last year, banned smoking in all public places in 2009.

The Balkans are home to Europe's most determined smokers, with 30 to 40 percent of all adults hooked on the habit, according to the World Health Organisation.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140411/croatian-charged-over-odd-treatments-quit-smoking

Dick_Puddlecote said...

The case of e-cigs is heading for the courts all over the world, and tobacco control are going to be found to be hideous as a result. I can't wait. ;)

Dick_Puddlecote said...

As I've mentioned before, the date of guilty knowledge is past. Serious jail time could be in the offing for some of those currently thinking they're clever for banning e-cigs. ;)

Perhaps said...

Tobacco control is out of control and needs to be held accountable!

Lets all go back a few years:
The only reason tobacco control got a foot in was this 'PASSIVE SMOKE DAMAGE' - People may chose to harm themselves as long as they do not harm others! With that smoking bans were lobbied

When a person vapes, he/she is NOT smoking. End of. No discussion.

Dick_Puddlecote said...

Ah, but you see that's because tobacco control - and their artificial construct of passive smoke - has never really been about health.

nisakiman said...

Coming to a high street near you soon...TC the world over will be rubbing their hands with glee at this judgement.

Fortunate for WA that they don't experience zero temperatures, otherwise sucking the end of your biro would fall foul of the law.

Perhaps said...

I'd even go a step further back; there was NO REQUEST by the public for smoking bans. Ventilation technology (very important in work environments, such as chromium industry, restaurant kitchens and operating theatres just to name a few) progress has been seriously compromised by tobacco control's fiction to eliminate tobacco once and for all. This costs REAL LIVES.


The e-cig has a major advantage to branded cigarettes; the vaper can mix and match flavour + determine the nicotine content of the liquid bought.

Also, as everyone knows, if you smoke a cigarette in a minute, you will start feeling nauseous. I have yet to hear of a vaper to be in that position. Most vapers tend to choose the medium to low option when buying e-liquid.


People CAN PERFECTLY WELL decide for themselves. They are adults and expected to do so.



Serious jail time (perhaps in a Siberian work camp) for tobacco control is long overdue.

Perhaps said...

I think it's also important to point out that e-cigs sold in Australia don't contain nicotine.


Huh?



I guess, even without nicotine it REMINDS of SMOKING..... That is good enough for tobacco control to lobby a ban.

Tommy Atkins said...

Strange priorities down in OZ,there is an explosion of Methadone abuse in
all Aussie States,with some states reporting a 300% increase in the last 3 years. As for OZ itself,take away the coal,iron and farting sheep ,all whats left is a flea ridden billabong

Legiron said...

Meanwhile, the Pharmers and their lackeys are pretending that Electrofags produce real smoke...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2602388/New-fears-e-cigarettes-study-finds-affect-lungs-similar-way-tobacco.html

So if water vapour affects lungs in a similar way to smoke... then smoking is as harmless as inhaling water vapour. Well done, Experts. Well done indeed.

Lisabeth said...

I trust that there will be plenty of vapour in that special place in Hell ;-)

The twisted irony is that the purposes of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2006 are:
(a) to reduce the incidence of illness and death related to the use of tobacco products —
(i) by prohibiting the supply of tobacco products and smoking
implements to young persons;
(ii) by discouraging the use of tobacco products;
(iii) by restricting the promotion of tobacco products and
smoking generally;
(iv) by reducing the exposure of people to tobacco smoke from
tobacco products that are smoked by other people;
and
(b) to promote good health and activities which encourage healthy lifestyles.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/tpca2006271/s3.html

Hopefully the other Australian States don't follow the lead of the wild West wankers...

Dick_Puddlecote said...

You're forgetting that it wasn't really about health. ;)

Dick_Puddlecote said...

And in the comments, the drones assume it's funded by the tobacco industry. There is so much stupid out there.

Lisabeth said...

I'm all too aware that it's got SFA to do with health :-(

Entropy said...

Its the asthmatics that I feel sorry for.

Dragonmum said...

And the babies sucking their thumbs.

Entropy said...

Bloody troublemakers.

Lisabelle said...

I'm truly heart broken this has got to be the most horrific example of Big Pharma's world domination what will vapers do oh my?

Lisabelle said...

Murderers they deserve jail time and more!

Lisabelle said...

Anything that Pharma sees as robbing them of harvesting ill smokers loss of profits, is what has happened here. The last thing they truly want is smokers becoming well by vaping and quitting their game. Evil so damned Evil!

Lisabelle said...

It's about domination of Pharmaceuticals all over the WORLD! It's their greed, they have bought out every Government. We are fighting Pharmaceuticals, TC is a cover for them, TC gets their money from Pharma. It's all PHARMA and that can be traced right back to Nazi Germany where Healthism and Pharma got it's big push in the world enslaving the human race!

S. Nolan said...

Good point. Hand to mouth and expels a vapour. So Asthma Inhalers are now illegal too.

Michael J. McFadden said...

"any product E-Cig or otherwise that involves a hand to mouth action and results in the expulsion of vapour does in fact resemble a tobacco product"


Thus, obviously, chewing on a toothpick outdoors in the winter, and putting one's hand up to it to shift it around once in a while is the same as smoking and must be controlled.


Toothpick Terrorism Must Cease! Save THE CHILDREN!


- MJM

Michael J. McFadden said...

West, EXCELLENT thinking! LOL! Someone should rig something like that up and appear in this judge's courtroom and start vaping. LOL!


- MJM

Michael J. McFadden said...

"Ventilation technology progress has been seriously compromised by tobacco control's fiction to eliminate tobacco once and for all. This costs REAL LIVES."



At some point, either from bio-terrorism or just as a result of nature, we will see a worldwide plague of some airborne bacteria/virus that's highly immune to our medicines/antibiotics and heavily fatal. We'll see that plague spread almost instantly through the sealed disease pods of airplanes. If, instead of bans, the planes had been pressured (not necessarily by the government: patron preferences would have worked quite well) to maintain fresh air input and upgrade their filtration technologies, then the plague might have been prevented.


At that point the ultimate pointer of worldwide catastrophe will point DIRECTLY back to the Antismokers.


- MJM

S.Brown said...

This will as Judge Pritchard said 'by definition' also include the NRT form of 'inhalers' so lets see how long they still get sold in stores.
How anyone can deem actual cigarettes legal and yet vaping (which is by far safer) illegal is just beyond me, it only show's this country doesn't want people to quit or they'll miss the tax dollars far too much.

I have never felt like leaving Australia to live anywhere else but this has now changed.

Jon Holland said...

Just needs a large number of vapers outside this muppets office all stealth vaping to show this wanker what an idiot he is.

Curryking32000 said...

So straws are banned too then? Why don't we stick a rolled up piece of paper in our mouths and make it look like we're smoking. That will confuse them. I assume this falls under the Tobacco Products Control Act too?

Patrick E said...

This is insane! Are cigarettes illegal in Australia?

Dragonmum said...

No chance - and they never will be, Smugglers are doing really well in Oz - plain packaging must have helped them a lot.

Dick_Puddlecote said...

True. It's probably been that way for quite a while, but e-cigs have brought them out into the open and made the deceit and cronyism blatant for all to see.

Long Time Vaper said...

@Dick I showed this to a new Vaper I'm helping and they were like WTF?
Showed it to my Mum,an Ex-Smoker who supports Vaping and She was the same.
Why?
Because of the heading and that's what people automatically respond to.
The Title looks like it's Illegal for ALL Aussies to Vape when this in fact only has happened in Western Australia, the state and not the whole country.
This is really needs to be rectified if you are with us on this.

Lisabelle said...

You make a point, it's very disturbing news. Western Austrailia is almost half of the country. That's very threatening. Austrailia has some of the worst draconian laws regarding Tobacco use. I would be very wary that it doesn't spread to the rest of the country. In the USA, all the States with major cities in them are dishing dirt at smokers and even more at vapers. There is no wax coating or nice way to express what this is. People must fight for their lives against their own Governments.

phil said...

So the W.A Government wants to protect its citizens from nasty sharks,but won't let smokers legally use a proven smoking cessation option. Get rid of these evil clowns.

Jack Lacan said...

This means bubble pipes for kids would be illegal too. They involve hand to mouth action and the expulsion of a vapour from the pipe.

Sean Ben said...

Isn't it good for vaping also????

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