This messsage shown below, was sent last night to various recipients, including the President of the Secondary Schools Association, and to Opposition as well as Coalition MPs as the previous government is part of the problem and its members need to be part of the solution. It will also be sent to others.
Although the first part of the message is for children, it is primarily to drive home for adults the very simple, bald nature of the NZ government action, being overtly corrupt and dangerous in not having nicotine or vape quitting programmes, and heavily marketing vapes with no health warning signs or labels and understating risks in Ministry of Health advice, while it and the tobacco-vape industry make immense amounts of money from vapes and tobacco out of nicotine-addicted individuals inhaling toxic aerosols and tobacco smoke. An epidemic of children as well as adults, vaping and addicted without support or understanding what they are risking, is unforgiveable. It has been said a 1000 times but obviously needs to be louder and clearer and simple to cut through the nonsense, and get action and decency from the government.
Date: 4 March 2024 at 8:25:52 PM NZDT
To: Christopher Luxon <Christopher.Luxon@parliament.govt.nz>, chris.hipkins@parliament.govt.nz, Diana.Sarfati@health.govt.nz, Winston.Peters@parliament.govt.nz, Ayesha.Verrall@parliament.govt.nz, David.Seymour@parliament.govt.nz, news@rnz.co.nz, newstips@stuff.co.nz, newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz, vaughan couillot <Vaughan@spanz.school.nz>, Michael Baker <michael.baker@otago.ac.nz>, ashley.bloomfield@auckland.ac.nz
Subject: A message for children in NZ
Dear All
This simple message below written for children, is being sent to Educators, MPs, media et al. It is the plain facts children (and adults of course) have a right to know.
A bit tacked on at the end is more for adults. It is a simple legal and moral issue really.
Regards
Mary MacGibbon (PhD)
Retired health educator, campaigning for tight vape regulation in NZ
Miramar
Wellington
Hey Aotearoa/NZ Kids (and Adults)
Did you know vapes are only supposed to be medicine, to help adults stop smoking tobacco cigarettes? They are definitely not to be used like sweets, even though they smell nice.
Did you know most countries completely ban or very strictly control them because they contain chemicals which can make you very sick?
Did you know it is not just nicotine which is a problem with vapes.
We know nicotine is bad as it causes strong addiction, can stop brains developing normally and can cause high blood pressure and damage blood vessels. But there are lots of chemicals in vapes, like propylene glycol which causes inflammation, and many others which can cause serious lung diseases, make it very hard to breathe and kill you.
That is why other countries ban or very strictly control them. The strange 3 who do not are New Zealand, the UK, Canada.
Did you know the NZ government has no programmes to help people to stop being addicted to vapes or nicotine?
So - should there be lots of vape shops here with colourful vapes displayed and with no health warnings?
Answer - Nooooo
Should there be government programmes here to help people stop vaping?
Answer - Yessss
Should the government information about risks of vaping mainly just say they are good for stopping tobacco smoking?
Answer - Nooooooooooo
It should clearly state risks.
Did you know that people hooked on the nicotine in tobacco or vapes can just stop by themselves? It is called going 'cold turkey', is the most successful way to stop, and the cravings are usually much lower and easy to manage in just 3 days!
But it is probably good to have advice about what it may feel like, and have support such as from family and friends, doing exercise, having good distractions, and being away from vapers.
Sometimes people may need a low nicotine type of replacement for a short while, such as nicotine gum, with advice from the doctor or chemist.
Let's get rid of vapes in the general community.
They may be helpful for people trying to stop tobacco smoking even though it (vaping) is also addictive and harmful.
So, new government, let us know about the risks of vaping to health, not just that it may be useful to stop tobacco smoking, start programmes to help people stop vaping, and get rid of all the displays.
People switching from tobacco will still be able to get vapes, just in plain packaging with health warnings, from fewer outlets, tightly regulated and not on display, possibly just from the chemist.
Note - adults - vape sale in NZ may in fact be illegal. Vapes are, as Labour and the Coalition have stated, a treatment for switching from tobacco, but they are not approved by Medsafe. Hence, under Section 29 of the Medicines Act NZ, they should only be available on prescription.
The American Cancer Society considers them too hazardous even to use for switching from the very toxic tobacco.
The UK, Canada and New Zealand are the only western countries not tightly regulating vaping even though the World Health Organisation strongly advises that or banning the practice.
These 3 countries are very influenced by the corporations which make vapes, and their respective governments as well as all the outlet shops and online sellers make a lot of money from the sale of vapes.
Should they? Answer - No.
Note - the Labour amendment allows every retailer, for a one-off licence fee, to display and sell vapes with no health warnings, allows easy online sales etc etc This is not regulation. The Ministry of Health has for a long time understated risk and made no recommendation for quitting programmes.
None of this understatement of risks of vaping, the lack of health warnings, the lack of vape or nicotine quitting programmes, and the extraordinary numbers of outlets displaying vapes with no health warnings in sight are necessary to help tobacco smokers quit. In fact if anything the opposite as they merely encourage people to become and remain hooked to vapes and nicotine. For those who never smoked tobacco becoming a vaper makes them 3 to 4 times more likely to start.
Vapes may well be relatively safer than tobacco cigarettes, but may eventually be found to be as or more harmful. Regardless, vapes are clearly identified as a serious health hazard to regular users. Not advising the public of vaping risks or strongly supporting quitting programmes is clearly irresponsible for these individuals, and especially so for those, including children, who never smoked tobacco, and think it's pretty safe, have some nebulous sense that it's not harmless but OK. It wouldn't be so popular, in pretty shops everywhere with no health warnings if it were toxic, would it?
This can all turn around in a week if the government wanted to. They can put material online, like the good advice of the US or Australian government about risks and about how to quit. They can make display of vapes and advertising illegal, require plain packaging with just statement of risks, and reduce all outlets. A campaign of risks and of how to quit should be in all the media, quitting programmes involving GPs, pharmacists and community organisations set up, and both tobacco and vapes be strictly regulated as they are both poisonous for humans.
Tobacco smokers are most likely to die from its effects including lung cancer, chronic debilitating lung disease or tobacco-related cardiovascular disease. The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke stops oxygen getting to tissues. Some surgeons will not operate on a smoker who doesn't give it up as it interferes with healing.
The vaping aerosols have many chemicals in concentrations known to cause serious lung disease, including cancer, scarring and irreversible damage. More are being identified by research on the effect of heating of the e-liquid which creates more toxins.
Adults may have heard this excellent interview at the weekend: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018928404/dr-judith-mackay-tobacco-industry-critic-on-nz-s-fight-for-control
Compare these descriptions of risk:
https://www.health.gov.au/topics/smoking-vaping-and-tobacco/about-vaping
https://vapingfacts.health.nz/our-position-on-vaping.html
As you see the NZ 'facts' is not so much about vapes as much as tobacco. Instead of a vape risks focus, it is more a reassurance about how they are a really good alternative to smoking!
Image in this update is from Wikipedia.
Note: an ideal edit would say 'Tobacco smokers deaths are most likely to be due to tobacco effects including ...') but the intended message is probably clear, and the point is also made in the excellent RNZ interview.