Smoke and mirrors: The nanny state critics behind the vape debate

Updated

Paul Blamire is a modern-day alchemist, a would-be Willy Wonka who conjures up flavours in the spare room of his modest Western Sydney pad.

The former racehorse trainer puts his gifts to profitable use making vape juice, the flavoured liquids used by electronic cigarette puffers, sometimes as a substitute for cigarettes.

Today he's fine-tuning one of his latest creations: milk chocolate banana bread.

"Oh, wow!" he exclaims imagining the soft, sugary taste of cake infused with isoamyl acetate and theobromine, the chemical compounds found naturally occurring in bananas and chocolate.

His room is lined with industrial-style metal drawers, stacked with bottles of additives, enhancers and food flavouring like custard, fried dough and honeycomb.

"You name it, it's actually endless."

For Mr Blamire, who switched to vaping to help kick his heavy smoking habit, his pastime has become a burgeoning business opportunity and a political cause.

Three years ago, just over 1 per cent of Australian adults said they used electronic cigarettes, but walk past a group of office workers on a smoko today and you're likely to catch the distinctive sticky-sweet aroma of a vape.

The one thing Mr Blamire cannot add to his vape-juice cocktails, however, is the ingredient most e-cigarette users literally crave: nicotine.

Being on the federal poison register means it is illegal to buy or sell e-cigarettes containing the addictive stimulant. In some states, importation with a medical certificate is permitted.

Australia is one of only a handful of OECD countries to have such a ban. And although there is bipartisan support for Health Minister Greg Hunt's refusal to water down the laws, there are those within his own party agitating for change.

They are joined by a vocal minority in the medical community who believe nicotine vaping is the best way to save more Australians who would otherwise die of smoking-related diseases each year — even though the science is still in doubt.

Big Tobacco, too, is looking on with interest, spying an opportunity to break free from years of regulatory restrictions that have kept its commercial ambitions in check.

And then there's another actor pushing for change; a well-drilled group of self-described "freedom fighters" who want to challenge the suffocating embrace of the nanny state.

The 'leave us alone coalition'

The Australian campaign to legalise nicotine vaping has a distinctly American flavour.

Grover Norquist, the Washington powerbroker and libertarian firebrand, had a lot to say about this when he was in Sydney in May for the Friedman Liberty Conference.

The founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform believes American vapers are a new political constituency ready to be rallied into action.

That's because government meddling has pushed the vaping community — along with the likes of gun owners — into what he calls the "leave us alone coalition".

"People should decide what they do and don't put in their body. It's not their government's goddamn business," he tells Background Briefing. "And the government that can tell you what to do with your own body is tyrannical."

Mr Norquist's Australian protege and host, Tim Andrews, channels his mentor's indignation.

"If you want to smoke, you should be allowed to do it. If you want to drink, you should be allowed to do it. So it was clear that if you want to vape, you should be allowed to do it," he says, face reddening as he speaks.

"This saved their lives. And how profoundly immoral it is for the fact that the Australian Government ignores all the science [about vaping]."

Mr Andrews is founder and president of the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance (ATA), a centre-right "do tank" that promotes individual freedoms and limited government.

Once a stalwart of the Young Liberals movement, the former Sydneysider followed his libertarian instincts to the United States where he now lives.

Mr Andrews launched the ATA in 2012 after interning with Mr Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform in 2008-09 and his group claims partial credit for orchestrating the campaign that eventually sunk Julia Gillard's carbon tax.

Now he has turned his sights on vaping through Legalise Vaping Australia (LVA), an advocacy group formed in 2017 that is leading a campaign to revamp nicotine vaping laws.

Politics in the park

The inaugural Aussie Vape Day, organised by LVA and other groups, fell on May 30 — 24 hours before the more established World No Tobacco Day.

The local industry is dominated by many smaller independents, a bit like the craft beer business.

And for Vape Day celebrants, it was a chance to put on a show of strength. Although at the suburban Sydney park where the launch took place, the sizzling sausages appeared to outnumber the true believers.

Then there was the bus parked nearby — a big campervan covered in loud, purple decals.

Vape Force One, as it's called, is part mobile billboard, part campaign stunt that trundles up and down the east coast spreading the message about vaping.

And its driver-in-chief, Brian Marlow, is both the campaign director of Legalise Vaping Australia and executive director of the Australian Taxpayers' Alliance.

It's a clever idea, but not an original one.

Mr Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and partner groups also used a bus to criss-cross the United States in 2016 on what they dubbed the Right to Vape Tour.

And the similarities didn't end there. Both campaigns used the same "I vape and I vote" slogan.

Mr Andrews dismisses the notion that the Australian campaign is just a franchised version of one born in the USA.

"If we see slogans that work, we would use slogans that work," he says. "We're always happy to share ideas because we're all in this together."

The rise of vapes

LVA is just one group pressuring Australian politicians and regulators to revisit the vaping laws.

Australia has been tough on tobacco control, but these pocket-sized electronic devices called e-cigarettes and vaporisers or vapes are a new complication.

The World Health Organisation says e-cigarettes that heat a liquid containing nicotine are likely to be somewhat less toxic for smokers than conventional cigarettes, but there are still concerns about the effects of their long-term use.

Last year, the Australian Parliament's Standing Committee on Health completed an inquiry into the use and marketing of vaping in Australia. The end result was that the sale of nicotine for vapes has remained illegal, for now anyway.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Greg Hunt remains opposed to making e-cigarettes widely available as a consumer product because of Big Tobacco's presence.

"The tobacco industry is backing this vaping push," he said in May. "It's not something I support … So no, that's not what I'm proposing on my time, on my watch, so long as I'm in the role."

But a handful of his own party members disagree, including MPs Trent Zimmerman and Tim Wilson.

In late 2018, Mr Hunt commissioned an independent review of the health impact of e-cigarettes. That's happening now at the Australian National University and is expected to conclude next year.

Money and networks

There is a long history of alignment between tobacco companies and free-market think tanks.

The Australian Taxpayers Alliance argued strongly against Australia's plain-packaging laws. So did other conservative Australian think tanks like the Institute of Public Affairs, which received membership fees from British American Tobacco as recently as 2012.

The ATA also continues to receive access to a media monitoring consultant provided by British American Tobacco, but insists it doesn't take tobacco funding — just from individual donors that it won't name.

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It's illegal to sell nicotine for vaping in Australia... for now. There are some powerful players who want to change that.

But the ATA does have ties to international free-market networks that continue to take tobacco money.

The Atlas Network, a global training and educational institute connected to 475 free-market organisations in over 90 countries.

In Australia, the ATA is a partner of the Atlas Network, as is the Institute of Public Affairs.

But the ATA says it only advocates for positions that align with its own values, which includes the belief that vaping will save Australian lives.

Dr Julia Smith, a health researcher from Simon Fraser University in Canada, has traced the decades-long affiliations between the tobacco industry and global free-market think tanks.

"Many of them claim to represent public interest, but they're definitely not representing public health interest. They're representing corporate interests," Dr Smith says.

And her research suggests the links between the tobacco industry and the Atlas Network go beyond just providing funding.

"We've found documents where tobacco companies have described the Atlas Network as a strategic ally, as an organisation they work with to influence policy," she says, adding that Atlas has taken tobacco donations as recently as 2018.

In a statement provided to Background Briefing, the Atlas Network says it does not hold policy positions or do any work on behalf of any industry.

West Australian mining magnate Ron Manners also says there's nothing to see here.

The founder of Perth-based free-market think tank Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, Mr Manners sits on the advisory council of the Atlas Network.

The loquacious octogenarian is also a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, an exclusive libertarian organisation that meets to discuss the dangers they see in state welfare and unions.

"Through my long involvement with Atlas, I've not seen them having been influenced by tobacco companies, or … big oil or big coal or big anything else," he says.

'This is not a safe product'

But free-market groups aren't the only ones making noise.

In April, a letter was delivered to an Indigenous community organisation in Victoria describing a "landmark six-month study to evaluate the impact of e-cigarette vapour on the risks of heart and lung disease".

The letter claimed that "switching to smoke-free e-cigarettes, whether the product was with or without nicotine, was less harmful than continuing to smoke cigarettes".

But the sender wasn't a health authority, it was a tobacco company.

This year, multinational tobacco giant Philip Morris has been sending various unsolicited letters about e-cigarettes to target groups across the country.

The company won't say how many, but Background Briefing knows of letters sent to politicians, academics and public health organisations.

Philip Morris has a range of its own vaping devices, but its focus is on a product called IQOS, which is a proprietary contraption that heats rather than burns tobacco to create an aerosol.

And just like nicotine vapes, it's illegal to sell here.

One Canberra politician, who didn't want to be named, says tobacco lobbyists are all over Parliament "like a rash". And they're using some of the same arguments as the free-market groups: that their new products will be a win for public health.

Dr Sarah White, the director of Quit Victoria, an arm of Cancer Council Victoria, is alarmed by the Philip Morris approach and says it shows that Indigenous groups are seen as a potentially "soft target".

The Federal Health Department has since informed some Aboriginal health bodies that, despite the claims, there is "no convincing evidence that e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products benefit tobacco control and population health".

Dr White suggests these letters are also about tobacco companies trying to create a demand for their products before they are even legal to sell here — especially to pressure politicians.

"But by and large, what we're fighting about is a very concerted lobby effort that's trying to appear like it's a groundswell, but it's really not," she says.

Philip Morris says its ultimate goal is to stop selling cigarettes and desperately wants a seat at the table to discuss its plans for IQOS, but keeps getting shut out.

This prompts an admission you don't expect to hear from a tobacco executive.

"First and foremost let me be clear, this is not a safe product," says Tammy Chan, the managing director of Philip Morris in Australia.

"Nicotine is addictive. So we always say actually … don't smoke, don't start. If they smoke, actually they should quit. It's only if they cannot quit then they should look for different alternatives."

She makes no apologies for sending letters about its new products to Indigenous groups.

"It's actually important to make sure that the smokers, whoever they are, will have access to information so that they can make an informed choice between smoking cigarettes, between choosing a better alternative," she says.

And Philip Morris does more than just drop letters. It is also a significant political donor.

Last financial year the company donated almost $100,000 to the National Party and the Liberal Democrats, which unlike the Liberal and Labor parties have not yet banned such donations.

She also admits to talking to free-market think tanks because "we need experts as well to help us", but doesn't provide details.

Blind eye environment

Mr Andrews believes that despite the limited size of the vaper constituency in Australia, there's an opportunity to move the electoral needle.

"Now this is only maybe 0.5 per cent of the population, but if you look at a marginal seat, that can matter," he says.

"A lot of people in the Liberal Party backbench are talking to us and saying 'you know it makes no sense. We're meant to be the party of freedom, like it's insane that we're doing this'."

Insanity is not a word used by Mr Wilson, the Liberal member for Goldstein in Melbourne, but he has not disguised his views on vaping and says he has always been clear about his political values.

As a former employee of the Institute of Public Affairs, he strongly opposed plain packaging as a risky expropriation of property rights.

"My values are pretty well known. They've been well known for my entire adult life. I believe in people's freedom to choose," he says.

He was one of a handful of MPs who says nicotine vaping should be legalised now, in contrast to the conclusion of the rest of the Health Committee.

"But when I've seen the evidence … it's quite clear to me that a regulated environment would be better than the blind-eye environment we're currently operating in," he says.

He rejects the notion that a pro-vaping position is based on potential political gain, describing any benefit as "marginal" at best.

Do you know more about this story? Email us at investigations@abc.net.au

As for the Health Minister? He declined to be interviewed.

In a statement, Mr Hunt's spokesperson said nicotine for use in e-cigarettes cannot be commercially supplied in Australia "in line with the Government's precautionary approach".

"The Government has received representations from various stakeholders covering a range of advocacy positions on e-cigarettes," the spokesperson said.

"This has included but is not limited to entities and individuals whose interests may be aligned with the tobacco and/or e-cigarette industries."

Listen to Ariel Bogle tell this story on Background Briefing.

Credits

Reporting: Stephen Hutcheon and Ariel Bogle

Additional research: Michael Workman

Photography: Jack Fisher and David Maguire

Digital Production: Stephen Hutcheon

Topics: government-and-politics, medical-sciences, health-administration, health-policy, adolescent-health, health, australia

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