Plea for full-strength vapes
Vapo co-founder Ben Pryor is begging the Government not to take the puff out of the vaping industry.
Vaping is a term that refers to breathing in nicotine-laced vapour from hand-held ‘‘e-cigarettes’’, offering a safer way to consume nicotine for the remaining 13 per cent of adults with a daily smoking habit.
The Government’s position on vaping is that breathing any product into your lungs unnecessarily is not a good idea but for those who smoke, switching to vaping is likely to substantially reduce health risks.
Later this year the Government intends to regulate vaping but Pryor said there were growing concerns in the vaping industry that it would follow Britain and ban full-strength e-liquids which deliver nicotine levels comparable to cigarettes.
‘‘If the Government drops the nicotine levels by regulation to say one-fifth of that found in a conventional cigarette, then that will decimate the local vaping industry with only Big Tobacco coming out on top,’’ Pryor said.
‘‘It would mean less smokers make a successful transition to vaping, so we’d see Kiwis quitting tobacco at a much slower rate.
‘‘In fact, it is highly likely the outcome of all this could deliver the complete opposite of what the Government actually wants.’’
Vaping suppliers had to be able to offer nicotine-laced e-liquids that provided an equal nicotine kick to conventional cigarettes for vaping to remain a viable alternative to smoking, Pryor said.
‘‘If the Government drops the nicotine levels by regulation to say one-fifth of that found in a conventional cigarette, then that will decimate the local vaping industry with only Big Tobacco coming out on top.’’
Ben Pryor
It wasn’t only the health of smokers which depended on vaping remaining a viable alternative to smoking, he said. The average smoker quitting smoking for vaping could save thousands of dollars a year, Pryor said.
The vaping industry had heard worrying ‘‘whispers’’ the Government favoured emulating Britain and restricting nicotine levels in e-liquids, Pryor said.
He believed that would threaten the country’s ability to go ‘‘Smokefree’’ by 2025.
Currently, vaping and e-liquids are not regulated, and nor is their sale, but the Government will change that with an amendment to the Smokefree Environments Act later this year.
Advice from the Ministry of Health to Government was that vaping was much safer than smoking, as it delivered nicotine without the cancer-causing toxic smoke caused by burning nicotine.
But the ministry said in a 2017 briefing to the Government: ‘‘The long-term effects of vaping are difficult to predict and will not be known for many years’’.
Pryor said the industry was increasingly agitated that the Government was also being advised to legislate against flavoured e-liquids.
Many e-liquids on the market come with pleasant fruit and sweet flavours like vanilla, mango, grape, strawberry and mint, and were thought by some health professionals to be attractive to children.
There were growing concerns around the world that e-cigarettes were helping create a new cohort of nicotine addicts, including in New Zealand, with Dr Cathy Stephenson speaking of her concerns that vaping businesses were targeting young people with their hipster stores.
Earlier this year, Dr Michael Blaha, from the US John Hopkins University school of medicine, warned about the rise in young people in the US trying vaping.
‘‘What I find most concerning about the rise of vaping is that people who would’ve never smoked otherwise, especially youth, are taking up the habit,’’ he said.
Public Health England said a survey in 2016 showed 25 per cent of English children aged 11-15 years had tried vaping, and 2 per cent were regular vapers.
In England ‘‘tobacco’’ flavour remained the most popular flavour, followed by fruit flavours and menthol.
Pryor believed it was better to prevent children getting their hands on vaping devices and liquids through restrictions on who can buy vaping products.
That strategy has not proved to be watertight overseas. In September 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration issued over a thousand warning letters and fines to retailers who illegally sold e-cigarettes to people below the legal age of purchase.
The most common reasons for vaping in England were: to help quit smoking; because they were less harmful than cigarettes; and because they were cheaper than cigarettes.