(Photo from Wikipedia)
Letter sent to Stuff, ccing C Luxon, W Peters and D Seymour
Smoke and Mirrors
Regarding PM vape 'crackdown' and 'Smoke Free NZ'.
Stuff Dec 11 'Prime Minister promises to continue Labour's youth vaping crackdown.'
Labour's crackdown just isn't one. Its amendment allows extraordinary availability and display, downplays risks and has no plans for establishing quitting programmes for vapes or nicotine. Any retailer, dairy, pharmacy etc, can, for a $600 licence display and sell 3 flavours. The 600 shops limit just refers to fancy specialist shops. Vapes are readily available online. There is no plain packaging with warnings recommended.
NZ is not told of the real risks of lung inflammation and irreversible conditions such as those stated for lay people by clinics like Mayo or Cleveland. The argument that this is all to stop tobacco smoking doesn't wash. As a means of switching from tobacco they should at least be in plain packaging, with health warnings, and not on display, or possibly even adopt the Australian prescription only policy. Government campaigns for quitting vaping should immediately be established. Currently addicts, including children, are left hanging. We are on track for top vaping rate globally (OECD has NZ at 2nd highest).
Also, Labour's Smoke Free legislation isn't remotely smoke free. It cracks down on tobacco which is great, but it supports widespread marketing and availability of vapes, with all the above issues. Vaping is inhaling a heated product containing, with other toxic substances, propylene glycol, so nicotine is delivered to the far reaches of the lungs. It is smoking.
The vape industry, including big tobacco corporations like Philip Morris (see their online vape info), watch their other market flourish here, and the government makes 15% from each vape deal while all the health effects are setting up a much higher cost to it.
I hope the Coalition gets better advice than it appears to have in this area, if it intends to help NZ to be healthy and functional.
Regards
Mary MacGibbon (PhD)