Almost 1,000 nicotine vapes have been seized from a West Australian business, with the health department promising more targeted operations against suspected sellers of the illegal products.
More than 900 e-cigarettes and two cartons of tobacco were seized from a business that normally serves food in Bunbury after a joint operation by WA Health and police.
WA Health spokesman Dr Michael Lindsay said e-cigarettes, or vapes, were a major concern for health officials.
"It's very uncontrolled, the sorts of things that have been found in e-cigarettes include heavy metals and volatile organic compounds," he said.
"Several of these chemicals are known to cause damage to human cells and DNA and cause cancer.
"These are not chemicals that that people should be breathing in or inhaling, and it's really important that they are removed from the marketplace to protect public health."
WA Health was yet to decide whether or not to press charges against the accused distributer.
Dr Lindsay said the department had seized more than 16,000 illegal nicotine vaping products over three years.
Making vapes illegal 'really stupid'
Despite strict laws making the use of nicotine e-cigarettes illegal, vaping among young people in particular was increasingly common.
The products themselves were said to be relatively easy to purchase with WA Health sending letters to over 3,000 retailers warning them about the ongoing restrictions on e-cigarettes.
The most recent National Drug Strategy Household Survey in 2019 showed a 23 per cent increase in people using e-cigarettes.
One of the directors of the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association, Dr Alex Wodak, said e-cigarettes were disproportionably regulated compared to traditional cigarettes.
"We know that the overwhelming majority of people who vape in Australia are current smokers, or even more so, former smokers, and they're doing it to reduce the harm from smoking," he said.
"Vaping is regulated much more tightly, much more restricted than cigarettes, and if we were going to do anything, we should be restricting cigarettes much more than we're restricting vaping."
Dr Wodak has called on the incoming federal health minister to relax the prohibition of the devices.
"Unfortunately, the outgoing Health Minister Greg Hunt was a fierce opponent of vaping and let's hope future health ministers are much more sensible and rational," he said.
Retailers on notice for selling vapes
Dr Lindsay from WA Health said the problem of enforcing the rules was ongoing.
"We need to be particularly vigilant, that's why we now have put retailers on notice," he said.
"We are aware that people are often under the impression that the liquid in vapes is just flavoured water.
"But the reality is people are inhaling a poisonous mix of chemicals that could can potentially cause significant and even life threatening illnesses."
