Rules aim to cut vaping among young
WELLINGTON: The Government is trying to make it harder for young people to pick up and continue vaping through a series of measures to make vapes less accessible and less attractive to young New Zealanders.
However, Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall is confident vaping plays an important role in New Zealand achieving Smokefree 2025 status and is defending not going further to make vapes more difficult to access, saying they are vital in helping people quit smoking.
The measures include prohibiting the sale of disposable and reusable vapes within the next year, accounting for a leadin time provided to manufacturers and importers.
Disposable or singleuse vape products may not be sold from November, while reusable vapes may not be sold from March next year.
Vapes sold after March will have to include removable or replaceable batteries.
Vapes would also require ‘‘childsafety mechanisms’’ — such as buttons to make them harder to operate — and flavour names such as ‘‘cotton candy’’ and ‘‘strawberry jelly donut’’ would be changed to more dull titles such as ‘‘sweet’’ and ‘‘berry’’ respectively, Dr Verrall said.
New vape retailers would also not be able to operate within 300m of a school or marae.
The 202122 New Zealand Health Survey found 8.3% of adults — those aged over 15 — were vaping or using ecigarettes daily, up from 6.2% the previous year and 0.9% in 201516.
The Ash survey of year 10 pupils for 2022 found 10.1% of the nearly 30,000 respondents vaped daily — up from 9.6% in 2021 and more than tripling since 2019.
In January last year, Ministry of Health data detailed how at least one in four New Zealand schools — 894 — were within 1km of a vape store, and at least 77 were within 250m.
‘‘Too many young people are vaping, which is why we’re making a number of moves to stop that happening,’’ Dr Verrall said yesterday.
‘‘We recognise we need to strike a balance between preventing young people from starting to vape, at the same time as having vapes available as a cessation tool for those who genuinely want to give up smoking.
‘‘These new regulations build on protections the Labour Government introduced in 2020, including banning sales to under18s and prohibiting vape advertising and sponsorship.’’
Vape retailers that already existed within the 300m boundary may continue to operate.
Dr Verrall defended the decision to allow those retailers to continue, saying it was legitimate to do so given those businesses had complied with the previous rules.
While she believed the Government’s position on vaping should be under constant review, vaping provided a good avenue for smokers to quit and a balance had to be struck between that and making sure it wasn’t easily accessible for youth, she said.