The lesser evil
‘I don’t know any decent vape operator who wants youth as part of their clientele,’’ says QJ Satchell, a vape manufacturer who runs a factory, NZVapor, north of Auckland. Satchell, who set up the company a decade ago, was the only vape company owner contacted willing to speak to the Listener. He was an industry representative on an advisory group when the Ministry of Health developed vaping product standards in 2017-18.
The former smoker started on cigarettes when he was 13 and was going through a pack a day. He quit smoking a decade ago thanks to vapes; his wife is also a vaper. Their teenage children don’t vape. “I’d prefer they vape than smoke but I’d prefer they do nothing at all.”
Satchell says vapes should be widely available for over-18s who want to kick “that horrible stinky habit”. But disposable vapes should be banned as they are an environmental disaster.
Like ASH, he doesn’t want vapes heavily regulated. Asked about his commercial interest in keeping them widely available, he says, “Yes, but my passion is to stop people smoking, and if anything does happen, the industry needs to be consulted.”
He says vaping is not harmless but is “harm reduced. Vaping is designed to be a replacement for smoking. We know hands down that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. It’s doing its job as a smoking reduction tool and it’s the preferred way to stop smoking than patches and gums.”
On youth vaping, he says there is not enough policing in vape stores: “Young people will always partake in risky behaviours. We need better controls on making sure they aren’t getting to buy them in the first place.”
Satchell says the 2020 vaping regulations were rushed and resulted in “some average legislation”.
He is frustrated about difficulties contacting the Vaping Regulatory Authority and the Ministry of Health. “We all want to get in front of them and talk to them … We don’t get a reply to an email half the time.”
Satchell says some retailers are wary about being linked to Big Tobacco and won’t sell their products. “They’re here, but they’re second-rate sellers to the local market.”
Major US tobacco company brands sold here include Vuse (sold by Reynolds), IQOS (Philip Morris International) and Juul (Altria). In the US, Juul has spent over US$1 billion settling claims that it unlawfully marketed its addictive products to minors. The country’s biggest specialist retailer, Shosha, stocks IQOS, but did not respond to requests for comment.