Forget NZ governments and advisers creating a healthy Smokefree New Zealand.
There is strong evidence that since 2016 we have instead been doing the bidding of the UK giant Philip Morris, to a 't'.
It had looked as if we were, given the 'script' of the government websites etc, the selected science papers, the lavish support for vapes, and now HTPs, as the 'healthy' alternative, and much else.
See below also the leak about the modus operandis of Philip Morris in funding major vape research.
The following is the description of the leak of a 2017 document showing the wealthy Philip Morris corporation strategy to influence politicians in promoting vapes and HTPs.
This involves not just the Coalition but governments since 2016. The protocols used impact the New Zealand economy, health and more, and reflect serious complicit behaviour, incompetence, lack of due diligence and exploitation of the public.
Importantly there is strong indication Philip Morris may have influenced NZ major vape research groups as they have in Japan.
The way Smoke Free NZ played out, where vapes have been heavily promoted as the healthy alternative to tobacco, and HTPs are now included as an appropriate regimen, the NZ public are still not informed adequately of risks of either and vapes are still being sold as 'candy' in the alluring marketing here, and the language used, all show previous National, Labour and the Coalition have followed the Philip Morris playbook.
The Department of Public Health has been strangely relatively silent about health concerns given our rates of vaping. (Compare with regs and advice of harm in other countries).
Philip Morris has been exposed as funding and influencing major science research groups with instruction to focus on 'success' or describe peripheral factors in vaping, not health risks - see link below re Japan.
The extraordinarily anaemic behaviour of NZ research groups, including the Otago Uni Dept of Public Health 'Aspire' research group, in their investigations and media releases regarding risks has been deeply concerning. Compare the media presence of this Dept via Michael Baker re vaccines, Covid etc, with the relative silence on daily vape use and its hazards given our vaping epidemic - eg 20% 15-24 year olds vape regularly. Independence of their research is potentially undermined given the affiliation of the Dept of Public Health with the Ministry of Health. Not to think the Japan scenario is probably playing out here, whether by covert funding or other, is naive.
The UK, Canada and NZ are the outliers re western countries in that we do not follow WHO strong advice to ban or tightly regulate vapes.
How will the Coalition respond to all this - they know the risks, NZ stats etc Ideally they would come clean and with media campaigns about risks of vaping, HTP use and tobacco, help NZ get over nicotine addiction eg as the US govt does (see US govt online advice, Mayo clinic et al.), and get dollars from elsewhere, forget the lobbyists, stop conflicts of interest al. But this is extremely unlikely.
We all need to take up this matter with our MPs who decide what happens in New Zealand.
https://academic.oup.com/ntr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntae101/7699729
(Photo of NZ flag is from Wkipedia.)