Ministry urged to set e-cig purchase age at 21

Tighter controls on electronic cigarettes — including a minimum purchasing age of 21 and fears “vaping” could lead people to start smoking — are among submissions to Parliament’s health select committee.

With Government preparing to change the law and regulate e-cigarettes, the Ministry of Health has released an analysis of submissions — 250 pieces of feedback from individuals, health experts and organisations, including international tobacco companies — on how the issue should be handled in this country.

According to the ministry, changes to the law will likely happen from mid-2018 “at the earliest”.

Debate over age limits, safety standards, whether to ban vaping in smoke-free areas and a strong opposition to tax are among the issues identified by the Ministry, with some submitters calling for an age threshold three years higher than on tobacco products.

“Themes that emerged included that e-cigarettes should not be sold to anyone under 21 years old,” the report said.

Many submitters supported their views with personal stories about using e-cigarettes to quit smoking tobacco. However, some submitters argued the opposite, citing concern “e-cigarette use may be a pathway to smoking”. It is illegal to sell an e-cigarette (with or without nicotine) while making a therapeutic claim — such as helping smokers quit — unless the product has been approved for that use by Medsafe.

In addition, products that look like a tobacco product or smoking pipe and can be used to simulate smoking cannot be sold to a person under 18, even if they do not contain nicotine.

Vaping in smoke-free places is not prohibited by the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990. However, individual organisations can ban the use of e-cigarettes as part of their own smoke-free policies.

Two Herald on Sunday journalists, Russell Blackstock and Matthew Theunissen, said vaping had helped them stop smoking tobacco and they didn’t support tobacco-style duty.

“They have been very effective for helping myself and others I know to break the habit of smoking. Why make things even more difficult for those who want to stop by taxing these products,” Blackstock said. Both also said that although they weren’t using tobacco any more, they felt a level of addiction to vaping instead. “I am undoubtedly addicted to e-cigarettes,” Theunissen said, who noted vaping saw him stop smoking in the space of a week. The report noted more than half of submitters agreed it was important to restrict advertising in the same way as tobacco.