'Smoking gun' - more evidence that corporations dictate NZ government tobacco and vape policies
A recent publication points to NZ First in particular doing the bidding of tobacco companies for all their damaging nicotine products, including the introduction and marketing of vapes.
(Others in the current and previous governments are also obviously complicit in getting the NZ public hooked on vapes, given the protocols adopted and maintained.)
The NZ First role is described in the PHCC article and RNZ piece - links below.
Table 1 of the former is particularly relevant: see below "..."
It supports the point made by Vaughan Couillot, President of the NZ Secondary Schools Association, who said vaping in schools didn't creep in until way after smoking had ceased to be an issue.
Drop in tobacco smoking generally was 'due to price hikes, bans, denormalization'.
Mr Peters, and others, want us to believe it was just due to introducing other nicotine products, especially vapes.
This new material, together with the understating of risk etc, undermines further the government statements that the extraordinary promotion and availability of vapes, including specialty stores near schools, was only to help tobacco smokers to quit.
Introducing vaping was very much a tool of the tobacco/vape corps to get NZ hooked onto another of their nicotine products as sales of tobacco had dropped.
As we know, the previous and current NZ governments have encouraged vaping while making fat profits from it and, as mentioned, stating that it was just to help smokers stop using tobacco.
Some smokers did switch, reducing some health risks but clearly exposing them to others.
Boosting the coffers of the government and the corporations has clearly been the main aim, at the expense of the nation's health, and the economy in terms of money going offshore and health costs.
The governments have produced, it appears intentionally, certainly on the part of the corporations and at least some in the governments given the protocols, an epidemic of young vapers who would have been unlikely to start smoking.
Vaping may be safer or not than tobacco use but it most definitely presents a serious health risk to the vaper. See previously stated composition of the inhaled aerosol, disturbing biological changes identified in regular vapers, COPD and other disease risks, insurance companies viewing tobacco smoking and vaping at the same level of health risk etc.
That the government still does not regulate content to any real degree, does not require statement of health risks, does not provide and encourage use of good nicotine quitting programmes, and does enable easy availability, shows its real motives.
It also shows it is not just Mr Peters or NZ First being exploitative here or complicit with the tobacco/vape corporations.
(The PHCC articles have been weak on the vape score. They are much stronger in other areas. They did need to present this, already published material, to at least appear functional re vaping etc but at least this is good to be aired.)
The 'smoking gun' tobacco corp statement regarding NZ and quoted in the PHCC article:
"Smoking prevalence has declined due to: price hikes, smoking bans and denormalization.
There is an opportunity in New Zealand to achieve three things: 1) positioning best-in-class vaping products in the market; 2) reduced tax on vaporizers and non-combustibles; and 3) populating the Australian market with success stories.”
A link to the PHCC article:
An earlier RNZ report:
Photo from wikipedia