Government Planning Youth Vaping Crackdown

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall has revealed that the Ministry of Health is now seeking public feedback on the proposed regulations in response to rising youth vaping rates as reported by 1News.

“We need to strike a better balance – vaping’s useful to help people quit smoking but we don’t want kids to be starting vaping straight up,” she said.

It’s illegal to sell or give a vaping product to anyone under 18.

The proposals include stopping new specialist vape retailers from opening near schools and sports grounds; labelling flavours which appeal to children under generic descriptions on packaging; introducing a range of safety requirements for all vape products; and reducing the maximum nicotine salt concentration allowed in disposable vapes from 50mg/mL to 35mg/mL.
On the proposed flavour packaging restrictions, Verrall said it’s about stopping the targeting of young people.

“Calling something ‘gummy bears’ suggests it’s candy – these products aren’t lollies,” Dr Verrall said.

She said the Ministry of Health expects to hear from the vaping industry and the public on the proposals.

“We know we really need to tighten up on youth vaping.”

In a press release, Verrall quoted a recent Australian study which found 86% of 14- to 17-year-olds from New South Wales had tried disposable vapes.

Bishop Viard College principal Chris Theobald is welcoming the measures, saying staff at his school see the impact of vaping on multiple parts of a student’s life.

“Students are very clearly addicted to the vapes, in some instances, so the actions that they have because of that addiction, that impacts their sleep, impacts their health, impacts their interactions with others,” he said.

Theobald said changing the labelling of certain flavours that are “very directly targeting our young people” to generic flavour terms was a first step, but removing those flavours should be the next measure taken.

Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ chief executive Letitia Harding also welcomed the proposals, but wants to see all vape products restricted to having a maximum nicotine strength of 20 milligrams, which she says is the equivalent to a packet of cigarettes.

“We would still call for it to be 20 milligrams because it’s the highly addictive nature of nicotine that gets our kids, rangatahi, actually addicted and dependant on these products,” she said.

Harding said storefront advertising of vape products and stopping convenience stores being approved as specialist vape retailers are other areas that should be looked at by the Government to reduce the attractiveness of vaping to young people.

“Yes, it’s a good start but we still need to go further.”

Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy co-founder Nancy Loucas supports the nature of the proposed measures, but she said overall, a lack of enforcement of current regulations is the issue.
“We need to focus on our enforcement before we go imposing any more restrictions,” she said.