Vapers upset by govt antismoking groups: study
AUCKLAND: Quit smoking groups funded by the Government will continue to lose relevance with smokers unless they are permitted to promote vaping products, new research shows.
Nicotine vaping products, which mimic real cigarettes by producing a vapour from a heated liquid, cannot be legally sold in New Zealand.
This puts governmentfunded health services in a bind if they wish to recommend nicotine vaping as a safer alternative to cigarette smoking.
However, National MP Nicky Wagner has sought to change that by recently introducing a private member’s Bill to Parliament seeking to do away with the restrictions.
Massey University researcher Prof Marewa Glover has called on the current Labourled Government to back the Bill, saying the ban was forcing people to turn away from recognised quit smoking groups.
She said a university study of 29 vapers published this month revealed those interested in vaping had begun to form their own selfhelp groups.
‘‘When they heard . . . the governmentfunded stop smoking services were refusing to support people in their choice to vape, the vaping community stepped in to fill the gap,’’ she said.
‘‘Vapers set up online forums where they could support people wanting to switch from smoking to vaping.’’
Vapers had also become angered, in some cases, by attacks on vaping by health professionals, Ms Glover said.
She pointed to charges brought by the Ministry of Health against Phillip Morris in which it alleged the tobacco giant’s Heets product — which is designed to heat up, but not burn, tobacco until it releases nicotine in a vapour — was illegal.
Wellington District Court Judge Peter Butler subsequently dismissed the charges in March, saying while Heets might have risks in itself, it was not as harmful or potentially harmful as ordinary cigarette use.
Ms Glover said the case had given some smokers the perception the Health Ministry was attempting ‘‘to undermine people’s chance to stop smoking by switching to use of a harmreduced product’’. — NZN BL/ SH