The Government is seeking feedback on measures to help reduce the number of young people vaping.
“Youth vaping is becoming increasingly popular, with many choosing to vape despite never having smoked,” Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said.
“Alongside our efforts to reduce tobacco smoking, we want to ensure vaping products are safe, regulated and are only being used for cessation purposes as intended.”
The Government is asking for community feedback on several proposals:
“The first proposal is to introduce proximity restrictions for all new specialist vape retailers, for instance to that they are not near schools and sports grounds.
These restrictions would not apply to general vape retailers such as dairies and petrol stations, which are already limited to the sale of three vape flavours.
Secondly vaping flavour names could potentially be restricted to reduce the attraction of vaping products to young people.
“We are proposing vaping liquids and vape product packaging will be limited to a description of the product’s flavour and this complies with permitted flavour descriptions.
For example flavour names such as ‘cotton candy’ and ‘gummy bears’ may no longer be allowed, with a generic term ‘candy’ having to be used instead.
“Thirdly we’d also look to restrict single-use vaping products, which are cheaper and more easily accessible. It would mean all vaping products for sale would need to have removable/replaceable batteries, child safety mechanisms and substance container labelling.
“The maximum concentration of nicotine salts allowed in single-use products like disposable vapes would also be reduced from 50mg/mL to 35mg/mL and serial or batch numbers will be required to ensure they can be traced if there are safety concerns.
“Disposable vapes are an easy gateway product to vaping and internationally there has been a dramatic increase in younger people using them. A recent study found 86% of 14-17 years old from New South Wales had tried disposable vapes.
“Clearly we have seen a rise in young people taking up vaping, these additional measures will work to protect youth from the appeal and attractiveness of vaping.
“Vaping has a role to play in ensuring smokers who wish to quit smoking can do so using vaping products. However youth vaping rates are too high and we need to strike a better balance.” says Dr Verrall.
A consultation document titled Proposals for the Smoked Tobacco Regulatory Regime, which also seeks feedback on proposals to implement significant reductions to the retail availability, appeal and addictiveness of smoked tobacco products, is available on the Ministry of Health website. Submissions close 5.00 pm, 15 March 2023.
Only about 5 years too late but at least it’s less damaging than tobacco smoking.
The only one of these that’s reasonable is banning disposable vapes the rest are authoritarian fun police bullshit and they even say so when they say they actually believe that they can legislate vaping so it’s only used by former smokers.
Trying to take the flavors names away is just pathetic. I like my blue raspberry ice and if I buy the wrong flavor cos of some govt control freak I shall be voting said govt out.
Ffs. We voted labour to build houses, raise living standards, fix healthcare and working conditions, instead of building houses they give land to scumbag developers and instead of improving living standards they are becoming weirdo power mad little poin Dexter authoritarians telling us what we can’t say, what we can’t eat, what we can’t smoke, what we can’t vape (though I guess the booze barons pay them enough to leave them alone)
Considering the shit people have to go through these days leave us to our simple pleasures ffs, yes ban disposable vapes they are disgusting environmentally unfriendly vapes but piss off out of the rest of it.
If I can’t find get my favorite flavor of vape juice cos of some nerdy lefty wanker I shall be voting ACT and if you’ve been on the street lately all those freaking vapers in the street will to …
We vape we vote.
If only this govt obsessed about getting kiwis into housing as much as it obsessed over telling us what to do.
Take my vape from my cold dead hands you upper middle class tyrannical bureaucrats.
when the govt takes the highly addictive caffine and carcinogens in COFFEE seriously and stops peddling unscientific speculation(they’ve never been able to prove anything..apart from vaping cannabis(whoops that’s inconvenient) even in califuckinfornia nicotine is not listed as carcinogenic(a state where air is carcinogenic) i might think they’re serious and as for alcohol well ………yup sure nic is addictive but no more than caffine..this reminds me of the whole ‘dungeons and dragons’ are a portal to hell moral panic….and you know what the thing about moral panics is they make you look like small minded buffoons 20yrs down the road.